Jamie Carragher paid Newcastle United the ultimate compliment when the Liverpool legend said the Magpies were playing 'like Atletico Madrid in the last 10 minutes' against Chelsea. Was it any wonder when former Atleti defender Kieran Trippier was guiding his team-mates over the line at St James' Park on Saturday evening?
Trippier repeatedly pointed to his temples in the closing stages, reminding those around him to stay switched on, as the hosts closed in on a 1-0 win. The pain of conceding a late suckerpunch at Anfield earlier this season was no doubt still fresh in the England international's mind and lessons were clearly learned that night.
It was after that 2-1 defeat that Eddie Howe lamented how his side 'needed to manage that last bit better' after Liverpool substitute Fabio Carvalho struck a 98th-minute winner following some tired defending from his side. Perhaps, tellingly, that remains the last time Newcastle have dropped points from a winning position this season.
READ MORE: Newcastle's streetwise transformation angers Chelsea as Lascelles winds them up and coach fumes
In contrast, last season, Newcastle threw away a whopping 24 points after going in front. To put that statistic into perspective, Newcastle would have finished fourth instead of 11th had they won those games.
Newcastle have long since worked on how to be a bit more streetwise and that nastier side of the Magpies' game was evident in the closing stages on Saturday evening. Seven minutes of stoppage time were added on but rather than dropping deep and going into survival mode, Newcastle continued to press.
When Chelsea needed to be shut down, Sean Longstaff wiped Marc Cucurella out while Dan Burn made a superb sliding challenge to deny Mateo Kovacic as the Chelsea midfielder advanced on goal just seconds later.
If that tackle was cheered loudly, well, another Burn intervention went slightly under the radar deep into stoppage time. There were 97 minutes on the clock when Chelsea carried the ball forward once more and Burn, anticipating Kai Havertz's run off the ball, positioned himself for the block so the substitute effectively ran into the towering defender.
Nothing was given by the officials, leaving Havertz aghast on the turf, and that only added to the Chelsea forward's frustrations when he made a beeline for Burn after the game after taking issue with how the defender and Fabian Schar celebrated in his face. There is certainly no love lost between the pair after Burn felt the full force of Havertz's elbow in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge last season.
It was not just Havertz who was fuming at full-time after Newcastle ran down the clock. Remarkably, there were 75 seconds between Chelsea winning a throw-in deep in Newcastle's half at the death and the visitors actually being able to take the set-piece.
Firstly, Longstaff was booked for the earlier foul on Cucurella after referee Robert Jones had previously played an advantage. Then the game was stopped once more after Jamaal Lascelles, an unused substitute, was yellow carded after encroaching on Cucurella as the Chelsea defender took the throw-in the first time around.
By the time Chelsea finally managed to restart the match, after Newcastle took their time returning the ball, Cucurella went backwards to Pulisic and the forward was easily dispossessed by the tireless Miguel Almiron before the referee brought the game to an end. It was the sort of result even Atletico boss Diego Simeone, the master of the dark arts, would have been proud of.
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