Chelsea were held by Newcastle in Atlanta on Wednesday night despite an excellent goalscoring display by Nicolas Jackson.
The new signing from Villarreal coolly slotted in his finish after latching onto Ian Maatsen’s through ball to open the scoring in the first half.
However, just before half-time, Marc Cucurella’s mistake allowed Miguel Almiron to equalise at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a ground he used to call home with Atlanta United.
Conor Gallagher, Christopher Nkunku and Ben Chilwell all came close to winning the match late on but Newcastle held on despite being second best over the 90 minutes.
Nizaar Kinsella was at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium to rate the Chelsea players.
Kepa Arrizabalaga - 6
Kepa was not busy but made one excellent save from Alex Murphy.
Reece James - 5
Auditioning for the captaincy, James looked rusty but, in his defence, he has been injured for over three months.
Trevoh Chalobah - 7
Produced several clearances against a good attack.
Bashir Humphreys - 7
Arguably the most inexperienced starter but was very composed once again.
Marc Cucurella - 4
Had been composed and tenacious in his defending but was caught out of position by Almiron who equalised.
Enzo Fernandez - 6
Usual controlled midfield display as Chelsea made marquee Newcastle signing Sandro Tonali look average.
Cesare Casadei - 7
Rarely ventured forward but looked composed.
Christopher Nkunku - 6
Unimpactful and outshone by the other attackers. His best role remains unclear.
Mykhailo Mudryk - 7
Not as electric and impactful as against Brighton but still looked confident.
Nicolas Jackson - 8
Opened the scoring with a composed 12th-minute finish having cleverly run in behind the defence. Played with real confidence but only got 45 minutes.
Ian Maatsen - 8
An accomplished tactical display featuring a cute assist to set up Jackson’s opener.
Subs
Connor Gallagher - 8
Forced Newcastle into countless errors with his pressing, set up a big chance for Nkunku and almost scored himself. Not bad with his future in doubt.
Andrey Santos - N/A
Malo Gusto - N/A
Carney Chukwuemeka - 6
His nice touches lifted the crowd in a flat second half for Chelsea.
Ben Chilwell - 7
Almost won it for Chelsea at the death, but for a superb save from Nick Pope.
Raheem Sterling - 5
Couldn’t strike up a partnership with Cucurella, not threatening.
Mason Burstow - N/A
Diego Moreira - 7
Almost won the match with a good dribble and shot that needed a good Pope save.
Unused subs: Slonina, Bergstrom, Silva, Colwill, Gilchrist, Hall, Angelo.
