Pochettino's Blues silence the boos

LONDON — Mauricio Pochettino called for Chelsea fans to trust his players after a 3-2 win over Newcastle on Monday propelled the Blues back into contention for European soccer next season.

Pochettino had faced open revolt from the west London club's supporters during last weekend's 2-2 draw at Brentford.

The former Tottenham boss has endured a difficult first season at Stamford Bridge, which included losing the League Cup final to a severely depleted Liverpool last month.

Chelsea remains 11th in the Premier League table, but closed to within four points of West Ham in seventh, which should at least secure a place in the Europa Conference League.

"We need to stick together," said Pochettino, whose side faces Leicester in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Sunday.

"Until the end we are going to fight to try to give our fans the best things. It helped a little bit today we scored from the beginning, the fans were good and behind us. They need to trust in us."

Newcastle's 12th defeat of the season leaves the Magpies just one point better off than Chelsea in 10th.

The pressure is also rising on Eddie Howe as Saudi-backed Newcastle has failed to build on finishing fourth last season to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years.

"All three goals are similar in their characteristics. We didn't defend those situations well enough and if you do that you are going to lose games," said Howe.

"I know we can hit the heights of previously, but we are not doing it anywhere near often enough."

There were promising signs for Pochettino as some of his much-criticized expensive young recruits showed glimpses of their potential.

Nicolas Jackson is now up to 12 goals in his debut season as he cleverly flicked in Cole Palmer's shot after less than six minutes.

However, it was the story of Chelsea's season that they failed to build on that flying start and allowed Newcastle to go onto control the rest of the first half.

The visiting side was dealt an injury blow midway through the first period when Anthony Gordon was forced off.

But Alexander Isak produced a quality finish, firing low into the far corner, to bring Newcastle level two minutes before halftime.

The one new signing Chelsea has been able to rely on all season is Palmer and the 21-year-old England international restored his side's lead in emphatic fashion just before the hour mark.

Palmer collected an Enzo Fernandez pass, cut inside and unleashed a powerful effort for his 11th Premier League goal this term.

Mykhailo Mudryk, by contrast, has been a constant frustration for a number of Chelsea managers since joining for 88 million pounds ($113 million) just over a year ago.

The Ukrainian had been on the pitch only five minutes when he showed his blistering pace to burst through the heart of the Newcastle defense and turn in just his sixth goal in 46 Chelsea appearances.

Jackson gave the home side the lead after six minutes when he diverted a shot from Palmer past Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

Although the Magpies lost in-form winger Gordon to injury 10 minutes before halftime, they fought back and equalized eight minutes later when Isak found the net with a perfectly placed shot from the edge of the box. Jacob Murphy got a goal back for the visitor in the 90th but his rasping strike was not enough to stop Chelsea taking all three points and prevent Newcastle from recording its first home-and-away double over the Blues since the 1986-87 season.

Howe told the BBC Gordon's injury "looks like a knee problem and it doesn't look too good at the moment".

An injury to defender Dan Burn looked less serious, he added.

AFP