Frank Lampard signed off as Chelsea manager with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge that meant he failed to register a home win during his interim tenure.
It took a Kieran Trippier own goal, the defender deflecting the ball into the net midway through the first half, to cancel out Anthony Gordon’s early strike and spare the outgoing coach the ignominy of a ninth defeat in his 11 games in charge.
Newcastle had already sealed their objective and qualified for the Champions League, but they had not come to west London to hand Lampard the consolation of a victory to cap his brief reign, and so played with purpose and style.
For Chelsea at the end of an awful season, there were at last flashes of a brighter future with Noni Madueke, Lewis Hall and substitute Carey Chukwuemeka – none of them older than 21 – the outstanding trio.
Newcastle started the brighter. Allan Saint-Maximin ran at Trevoh Chalobah and, as the Chelsea defender backed off, slipped it through to Aleksander Isak, whose low shot was well blocked by the legs of Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Their opening goal was simple, but Chelsea made it so. A long ball out from the back was taken deftly on his left foot by Saint-Maximin who looked up and found Matt Targett overlapping on the left.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Chalobah seemed to leave the threat to one another to handle, and Targett had time to pick out Gordon, roaming free inside the six yard box, to tap home unmarked.
Newcastle were playing with the confidence of a side about to record their best finish in 20 years, and Isak nearly bent in a second minutes later, his arcing shot dropping just wide of Arrizabalaga’s left-hand post as Chelsea tottered.
Chelsea’s equaliser was a mix of brilliance from Raheem Sterling and misfortune for Trippier. Sterling collected the ball from a quick free-kick on the right of the penalty area and showed fine feet to slip inside and shoot left-footed low to the back post.
The effort looked to be going wide until a critical deflection off Trippier who, with help from Fabian Schar on the goalline, bundled the ball awkwardly with his arm past Martin Dubravka.
Newcastle should have restored their lead late in the half when Gordon’s header deflected off Hall into the path of Miguel Almiron. The forward has enjoyed his best season in black and white but could not cap it here with a goal, his effort instead ballooning high into the Matthew Harding Stand.
Chelsea, still unable to find the killer ball in the final third, looked rudderless in the first half.
Madueke tried to take matters into his own hands with a decent run and shot coming on off the right, but the strike dropped straight into Dubravka’s arms, before Almiron found himself in space again inside the box and produced a good, stretching save from Arrizabalaga.
The hosts were finishing the half the stronger. Hall’s deflected cross was met by Sterling, forcing Dubravka into a spectacular leaping save to his right, before Targett booted off the line from the England forward’s follow-up.
The final weeks of Chelsea’s campaign have largely been about looking for signs of promise among a squad whose confidence has been rocked, and Madueke gave a glimpsing reason for optimism when he cut from the right touchline and went close with a rocket shot early in the second half.
The January signing from PSV Eindhoven has started to find form after struggling for a place early in his Chelsea career.
Hall too at left-back has enjoyed a breakthrough year, and he went close with a shot that flew narrowly over the top after clever footwork to find space. It was his cutback 20 minutes from time that found Sterling free inside the box to shoot off target, that after fine work from the substitute Chukwuemeka who drove at Newcastle with purpose.
Sterling shot wide late on after the excellent Madueke had run the ball to the byline and crossed. Chelsea wanted a penalty for handball against Dan Burn but VAR ruled no infringement.
At the other end 17-year-old debutant Lewis Miley, on as a substitute, clipped the crossbar with a crisp drive from outside the box.
Joao Felix headed over with virtually the final action, perhaps a final touch in blue for the loan signing from Atletico Madrid.
But Chelsea could not find a home victory to send their outgoing manager off with. The rebuilding job starts here.
St. Louis City v LA Galaxy: Reus sets sights on silverware after dream start
Marco Reus is desperate to bring silverware to the LA Galaxy after making a flying start to his time in MLS, with St. Louis City the destination for his first road game on Sunday.
Reus registered a goal and an assist on debut last week as the Galaxy beat Atlanta United 2-0, maintaining their grip on top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy are five points clear of local rivals Los Angeles FC at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's trip to St. Louis, who are 13th and 10 points adrift of the playoff picture.
Reus' arrival in Los Angeles has caused plenty of fanfare, but he is focused solely on the team's collective aims.
"It's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "We want to be champions. So we take it game by game.
"Besides the traffic, it's really amazing. The people are so friendly. The weather, it's really nice. When you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining, you start the day differently.
"So I'm really, really happy every morning I come into the dressing room. I'm just happy and excited."
St. Louis played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers last week, twice throwing away a two-goal lead to leave interim coach John Hackworth bewildered.
"Really don't know what to say," Hackworth said. "It's hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up, and then just losing one-versus-one defensive battles.
"Sometimes, the number of goals you give up, or the number of goals you score, can hide a lot of the transition moments.
"An easy way to prevent some of these defensive miscues from happening is to just be better with the ball."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen scored his fourth goal of the MLS season last time out, converting from the penalty spot as St. Louis drew 4-4 with the Timbers.
Only Joao Klauss, with five goals, has outscored him for St. Louis this term.
LA Galaxy – Marco Reus
Reus is one of 20 players in MLS history to record a goal and an assist on his regular-season debut.
He is also the fifth Galaxy player to do so, after Steven Gerrard, Andreas Herzog, Giovani dos Santos and Sasha Victorine. No other team have had more than two players achieve the feat.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Galaxy have won 10 of their last 13 regular-season matches, the first time they have done so in a single season since 2011. LA have not recorded 11 wins in a span of 14 matches within a single regular season in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
It would be no surprise to see the points shared in this one, though. All three meetings between St. Louis and the Galaxy have ended level, all with different scorelines (1-1, 2-2, 3-3).
St. Louis have only won one of the last six matches in which they have held the lead in regular-season play dating back to the beginning of June (four draws, one defeat).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 35.8%
LA Galaxy – 38.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Raphinha hails Barcelona after statement win over Valladolid
Barcelona forward Raphinha believes the team have laid down a statement of their intent by starting the season with four straight wins in LaLiga.
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and also delivered two assists on Saturday, as Barca crushed Real Valladolid 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick's side already possess a four-point cushion at the top of the table after also recording victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha believes their results have demonstrated the club got things right in the transfer market, telling Movistar: "Today's game has shown that there is no need for anyone else to come. We are very happy because of that.
"We are in very good shape. The team is working hard. Today's result shows what we are working for.
"We saw that the coach was on the sidelines asking for more goals and that's our mentality.
"We are hungry and want to score as many goals as we can. When we are dominant like we have been, the best way to respect our rivals is not taking the foot off the gas."
Raphinha was one of the players who faced criticism during Barca's trophyless 2023-24 campaign and was rumoured to be on his way out ahead of the new season.
The Blaugrana again battled financial restrictions throughout the window, allowing Ilkay Gundogan to leave in order to secure the registration of new arrival Dani Olmo.
With his future now certain, Raphinha is keen to nail down a starting spot and contribute on a regular basis.
"I don't know if today's was my best game, but it's certainly among my best. I will try to play even better and as much as I can," the Brazilian said.
"I'm very happy to be able to help the team. I feel good. I knew that this season would be very important for me. I'm looking for my best version to help my team-mates and be more confident."
Lazio 2-2 Milan: Leao salvages draw but Rossoneri still winless
Rafael Leao came off the bench to earn Milan a 2-2 draw with Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but Paulo Fonseca's side are still without a Serie A win this season.
Milan were in front at the break through Strahinja Pavlovic's eighth-minute goal, the Serbian rising highest to power home a header from Christian Pulisic's corner.
However, Lazio hit back in the second half with Valentin Castellanos and Boulaye Dia scoring in quick succession.
Nuno Tavares' first-time ball into the centre was met by the unmarked Castellanos to level in the 62nd minute, then Dia tapped another Tavares cutback home to put the Biancocelesti ahead four minutes later.
Fonseca reacted by sending on four substitutes, and those changes had a swift impact as three of them combined for the leveller.
Theo Hernandez – who joined Leao in being dropped from the start – picked out Tammy Abraham, and his lay-off allowed Leao to escape Tavares to fire past Ivan Provedel.
The game was preceded by an emotional tribute to the man who led Lazio to their last league title, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on Monday.
A Lazio shirt bearing the Swede's name was displayed on the home bench, while a banner held up by the home fans read: "You brought us to the top of the world... Have a good trip Mr. Sven."
Data Debrief: Milan's slow start continues
New Milan boss Fonseca is already under pressure after overseeing a return of two points from his first three league games at the helm.
It is the first time the Rossoneri have drawn two of their opening three matches in a Serie A season since 2011-12, when they also drew two and lost one,
They went on to finish second that season, just four points adrift of champions Juventus. If a title challenge is to take place this term, rapid improvements are needed.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
