Izuchukwu Okosi
The Mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens was the special guest as Chelsea and Newcastle United battled to an entertaining 1-1 draw in their Premier League Summer Series early Thursday morning (in Nigeria) as the inuagural edition of the pre season tournament continues.
Newcastle United’s Miguel Almiron became the star of the show at the NFL Field turf, the home of the Atlanta United side, as he played in front of his former club supporters.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelEddie Howe made wholesome changes to the team that drew 3-3 with Aston Villa in Philadelphia and he scrapped the three-man defensive unit in favour of a 4-3-3 system.
But there was nothing to be concerned about as Bruno Guimaraes and Harvey Barnes were merely rested.
The game got off to an uneventful start and with no clear-cut chances for either side the teams were goal-less in the first 10 minutes. Joelinton won an 11th minute corner but Kieran Trippier’scross was dealt with by the Chelsea backline.
Just a minute later, it was the Blues that went ahead as Ian Maatsen’s pass through the centre unlocked the Newcastle defence and Nicolas Jackson outpaced Sven Botman before calmly rolling it past Martin Dubravka for the opening goal. In response, United tried to get things going with returning Atlanta old boy Miguel Almiron – wildly cheered when the teams were read out – and the impressive Anthony Gordon who probed the London team down the left.
On the 20-minute mark, Fabian Schar was booked for a foul on Jackson on the right-hand side of the field. But the resultant free-kicked was easily cleared by the Magpies. Chelsea had another chance on 27 minutes but Cesare Casadei smashed his shot well wide of the target.
Maatsen then tested Dubravka low down after Mykhailo Mudryk’s bustling run into the final third but the Slovakia stopper was equal to it. Schar’s bad night continued as he went off with an injury after 33 minutes and was replaced by young Republic of Ireland youth international defender Alex Murphy.
Murphy took just seven minutes to make an impact after Almiron, who made the crowd come alive whenever he was on the ball, mopped up from a bad corner routine before crossing to the back post for Alexander Isak.
The Sweden international then nodded across the goal for the 19-year-old Galway youngster to turn it at goal, only for Kepa to make the block.
But Newcastle did equalise in stoppage time to thrill the locals. The tourists levelled when Gordon’s driving run from his own half saw him make space for a perfectly threaded pass to Almiron.
The former Atlanta United star waited for the pass before sprinting past Marc Cucurella and slotting home with his left foot for a fine goal. After a half in which Chelsea could have put things to bed, Newcastle went in level at the break.
Howe made just one change at half-time with Pope replacing Dubravka between the posts for his first game of pre-season. The second half unfolded the same way the first had, relatively flat with no clear-cut chances for either side in the opening 10 minutes.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
