'Unhappy' Bruno Guimaraes does not hold back as Newcastle owner sees £309.5m Chelsea eye-opener

Newcastle United have suffered heavier defeats at Stamford Bridge. Heck, the Magpies have only ever won once here in the Premier League. But this 2-1 loss against Chelsea hurt.

Newcastle had gone into the break level after Alexander Isak cancelled out Nicolas Jackson's opener and scored the black-and-whites' first goal from open play in five weeks. However, the visitors only had themselves to blame thereafter, whether it was the manner in which they lost the ball and stood off in the build-up to Cole Palmer's winner or how Isak failed to score or pick out the unmarked Joelinton after rounding the goalkeeper late on.

It summed up Newcastle's profligacy of late. In fact, Newcastle finished the game with a higher xG (1.85) than Chelsea (1.68) yet Eddie Howe's team only mustered three efforts on target despite having 24 touches in the box and 11 shots. Sound familiar? Newcastle had 35 shots, 87 touches in the box and an xG of four in total in games against Brighton and Everton, but still failed to score. From high turnovers to big chances, there are a number of metrics Newcastle are down in this season.

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"It's clear the first few games we didn't perform anywhere near to the level we know we are capable of," Howe said. "We ground out some good results and, lo and behold, we perform a lot better and don't get the results that I feel our performances deserve. Our general performances are much-improved and those stats will improve as the season goes on, but we have to make sure they do by producing better performances."

This team have to rediscover their clinical edge, and fast, ahead of Wednesday's night's huge Carabao Cup tie against, you guessed it, Chelsea. Although there have been flashes - the 1-1 draw against Manchester City, for example - sloppy spells have proved costly in recent weeks and Newcastle have now gone five league games without a win. No wonder Bruno Guimaraes called it a 'difficult moment'. "I'm not happy at all to be honest," the Newcastle captain told NUFC TV.

This side, who have had the luxury of extended training weeks ahead of the majority of games this season, should be faring better than 12th place, but it is hard to make an argument that Newcastle are in any way stronger than they were a year ago. Those teams above the Magpies certainly are.

Chelsea, for instance, introduced four substitutes who could end up costing £309.5m in transfer fees on Sunday. Such was the quality Chelsea boasted in reserve, Jadon Sancho and Joao Felix did not get on the pitch. Nor did Tosin Adarabioyo, who turned down Newcastle to move to Stamford Bridge last summer.

Money is not everything - Chelsea, after all, have wasted hundreds of millions - but, historically, the higher a side's wage bill, the more points they pick up per game. It's why Howe spoke about having to 'buck the trend' ahead of this game amid tight PSR restrictions. Newcastle were able to do just that in 2023, but the Magpies remain reliant on a similar group of players nearly 18 months on and it shows.

Newcastle were admittedly missing Sven Botman, Kieran Trippier, Anthony Gordon and Callum Wilson, who all would have featured at Stamford Bridge if fit, but the visitors' contrasting depth was striking on Sunday as part-owner Jamie Reuben watched on. Two goalkeepers were named on the bench. It fell to Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy to get Newcastle back into the game midway through the second half. Lloyd Kelly and William Osula were even thrown on late on. Sums has been spent - upwards of £450m since the takeover - but this side look a little short in key areas. That was evident from the off.

There were just three minutes on the clock when Dan Burn pushed up to close Jackson down, with the Chelsea striker's back to goal, but the Senegal international easily spun away. Jackson threaded the ball through for Palmer, who had raced clear of Newcastle's noticeably high defensive line, and the Chelsea star did not miss. Fortunately for Newcastle, VAR intervened and chalked the goal off after Palmer was found to have been in an offside position.

It was a huge let-off for Newcastle, but Chelsea were soon in front. There were 18 minutes on the clock when a Newcastle attack broke down and the ball came to Palmer deep inside his own half. Palmer was surrounded by Sandro Tonali and Joelinton, but the Chelsea talisman took a clever touch to take the ball away from the pair before scooping the ball down the left flank.

Tino Livramento failed to cut out the danger, as did the sliding Fabian Schar for that matter, and Pedro Neto galloped away. Neto looked up and drilled the ball across for Nicolas Jackson, who finished emphatically after sprinting away from Dan Burn.

The visitors' heads did not drop, however. Livramento, eager to make amends, led the charge and played a one-two with Joelinton before finding Harvey Barnes out on the left. Barnes slipped Hall in down the overlap and the former Chelsea defender's cross was turned in by Isak.

Having got back into the game, and regrouped at half-time, Newcastle shot themselves in the foot just a minute into the second half. Isak was dispossessed far too easily on the halfway line and Romeo Lavia hooked the ball into Palmer's path, but a goal from that position was not necessarily a foregone conclusion.

Newcastle defenders back peddled, though, and invited Palmer to shoot. The Chelsea star obliged and let fly from just inside the box to put the hosts back in front. Nick Pope punched the turf in anger, after being beaten at his near post, but there was still so much time for Newcastle to equalise and the Magpies had a huge chance to draw level once again with a quarter of an hour to go.

Fabian Schar's long ball down the right channel sent Isak on a footrace with Wesley Fofana. The Chelsea defender badly misjudged the flight of a bouncing ball and Isak nudged him to the turf before rounding goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. The angle was tight but, with Joelinton and Sean Longstaff both screaming for the pass, Isak took a touch into traffic and Moises Caicedo put the ball out for a corner. The chance had gone.