Mauricio Pochettino, the Chelsea manager, was overjoyed with his team’s narrow 3-2 win against Newcastle United.
Despite facing criticism from some Chelsea supporters, Pochettino was all smiles at the end of the match, thanks to goals from Nicolas Jackson, Cole Palmer, and Mykhailo Mudryk. This victory brought Chelsea within a point of the Magpies in the Premier League standings.
The scoring was opened in the sixth minute when Jackson deftly redirected Palmer’s shot into the net. Newcastle equalized through Alexander Isak, but Chelsea regained the lead around the 60th minute with Palmer’s precise low strike past Martin Dubravka. Mudryk extended the lead to 3-1, deftly maneuvering past Fabian Schar and Dubravka to finish into an open goal.
A late wonder goal by Jacob Murphy in the 90th minute brought the score to 3-2, but Chelsea managed to hold on for the win without much trouble.
Reacting to result, Pochettino said: “Football, sometimes you enjoy and sometimes you suffer.
“We played a very good team with amazing players, it was really tough. We made the victory, but we keep looking forward and moving forward – the most important is the three points.
“It is important for offensive players to feel the confidence and we know we can win games scoring goals, but a little disappointed the way we conceded with two mistakes that should never happen, but that is how we become more mature – we need to keep pushing.”
Meanwhile, Palmer, who was given the man of the match award for his goal and assist, praised Murphy’s goal during his post-match assessment.
He said: “When they scored we thought we better defend better than we did than when we conceded. It was a great goal [from Jacob Murphy], but to get three points is a step in the right direction.
“We’ve had some difficult results, obviously the cup final against Liverpool so to get the points is vital. We showed passion, courage winning the second ball and not getting bullied. As a young team we’re going to make mistakes.”