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LONDON: A week of unprecedented turmoil for Chelsea ended with a moment of joy.
In a game that came to symbolise the Premier League’s connections to so-called sportswashing by unsavoury owners, Kai Havertz netted an 89th-minute winner to give Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday.
As the match was seemingly heading for a draw, Jorginho launched a long pass over the Newcastle defence to Havertz and the German controlled the ball with his left foot before firing past Martin Dubravka for his fourth goal in three league games to set off wild celebrations among the capacity crowd at Stamford Bridge.
The German midfielder almost had a second in added time but goalkeeper Dubravka got a hand to his shot and the ball dropped onto the bar.
“It was necessary to stay patient and don’t lose the passion and don’t lose the spirit from the game,” Chelsea’s coach Thomas Tuchel told BBC radio.
“We kept on believing that we could have this one pass, this one run, this one finish that we finally had.”
Havertz may have been fortunate to escape with just a yellow card for elbowing Dan Burn in the head in an aerial duel in the first half. In the end, his goal meant Chelsea escaped with a win that may quell talk of a full-blown crisis for now.
It may be some time before Chelsea plays in front of a sold-out home stadium again after the UK government imposed sanctions on Russian owner Roman Abramovich, but the uncertainty surrounding the clubs future has so far not had an effect on the pitch.
The win followed a 3-1 victory over Norwich on Thursday and maintained Chelsea’s solid grip on third place in the standings. For Newcastle, it was the club’s first league loss of the year, ending a nine-game unbeaten run.
In other games, Watford boosted its hopes of avoiding relegation with a 2-1 win at Southampton and Leeds United ended a six-game losing streak by beating last-place Norwich City 2-1 thanks to an injury-time winner. West Ham United also earned a 2-1 win over Aston Villa after Ukrainian forward Andriy Yarmolenko scored the opening goal and Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Everton 1-0.
UNITED KEEP TOP FOUR HOPES ALIVE
On Saturday night, Cristiano Ronaldo answered all the questions about his continuing value to Manchester United with a superb hat-trick to secure a 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in an entertaining match.
Just six days after doubts were raised about his injury absence for the Manchester derby and at the end of a week marked by tabloid speculation over his relationship with interim manager Ralf Rangnick, the 37-year-old delivered a reminder of just why United chose to bring him back to Old Trafford.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner headed the winner nine minutes from time before he was promptly taken off to ecstatic cheers. It was the 807th goal of his career, laying claim to professional football’s all-time leading scorer record.
The result moves United two points above Arsenal and back into fourth place, although the Gunners have four games in hand starting with a late home match being held on Sunday against Leicester City.
Ronaldo put United ahead in the 12th minute with a spectacular long-range blast from over 20 metres out after he had collected a clever flick from Fred.
Three minutes later the Portugal forward restored United’s advantage, slotting home after Jadon Sancho broke the offside trap and set up Ronaldo with a low cross. Ronaldo sealed the victory and his hat-trick settled the contest in the 81st minute with a powerful header from an Alex Telles corner.
The day’s other game saw Ivan Toney’s late double give Brentford a 2-0 win over Burnley.