Premier League: Newcastle 1 Chelsea 1

A Salomon Kalou goal rescued a point for Chelsea in their 1-1 draw with Newcastle at St James’ Park on Saturday.

Newcastle almost took the lead after just two minutes when Steven Taylor glanced his header towards goal only for Petr Cech to palm the ball away. Shola Ameobi latched onto the rebound but could only find the side netting with his shot.

The home side were ahead just minutes later following a costly mistake from Chelsea defender Alex, whose miscued back pass rolled past Cech, allowing Andy Carroll the easiest of finishes into an empty goal.

Brazillian defender Alex almost atoned for his error soon afterwards, but his header was cleared off the line by Jose Enrique.

Chelsea were on level terms in the 45th minute when Kalou created space for himself in the box before his right-footed shot took a deflection off Jose Enrique and found the back of the net.

Newcastle’s Tim Krul was called into action ten minutes into the second half when Didier Drogba turned to shoot from the edge of the box, but the Dutch goalkeeper managed to scramble the ball away.

Newcastle’s first strike on goal in the second half almost produced Wayne Routledge’s maiden Premier League goal when the winger pounced onto Cech’s punched clearance only for his fierce drive to be headed off the line by Ashley Cole.

Drogba thought he had won the game for Chelsea with ten minutes to go, but referee Andre Marriner ruled that the Ivory Coast international used his hand to control the ball before beating Krul.

The draw now sees reigning champions Chelsea sit a point behind Manchester United in the race for the Premier League title.