Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has said that his side were made to pay for their mistakes today as they suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The Magpies took an unlikely lead with just 12 minutes on the clock courtesy of Dwight Gayle, but their advantage lasted just nine minutes until Eden Hazard found the net with his first of the afternoon.
The Blues' record signing Alvaro Morata then put a dominant home side in front, before Hazard scored from the spot after Matt Ritchie took down Victor Moses in the area.
The result extended Newcastle's winless run in the league to six games - one draw and five defeats - and left them 14th in the table ahead of the weekend's remaining fixtures.
"We knew it could be like this," Benitez told reporters after the game. "But it is a pity because we started really well. After that, we made some mistakes, and as I said against Manchester United, we paid for that.
"You can stop them if you do things a little bit better, although it is still very difficult because they have players who can beat people in one-against-one situations.
"You have cover for that, and that means you leave other players free and when you press high, they can run in behind. They have the width as well, so they have a lot of good things.
"They are a very good team, and they'll be competing for the title. "It's obvious that they are one of the teams that will be there in the top three. We did well, it was a pity that we couldn't keep the score [at 1-0] for a while."
Next up for Newcastle are back-to-back home games against Leicester City and Everton.
Neil Wilkes
