Kai Havertz strikes late to give turbulent Chelsea victory over Newcastle

In other news, Kai Havertz scored a stunning last-minute winner to give Chelsea a fifth Premier League win on the spin and hand Newcastle a first defeat in 10 games in the competition.

It was a day when the action on the field felt strangely incidental, as Chelsea played at Stamford Bridge for the first time since the fall of their oligarch owner, Roman Abramovich, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Facing them were opponents who are owned by the Public Investment Fund of a country that is involved in the war with Yemen.

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Outgoing Russian money versus incoming Saudi Arabian money, with ethical questions everywhere. It was one to warm the hearts of the romantics.

It is fair to say that plenty has happened at Chelsea since their last game here – the Champions League last 16, first-leg win over Lille on 22 February. Abramovich has been identified by the UK government as an enabler of the Vladimir Putin regime and he has been stripped of his assets over here, including Chelsea, which he must now sell. And with a degree of speed, if the stinging sanctions that are in place against the club are not to drag them under.

The match-going Chelsea support tried to process it all. Should they proclaim their affection for Abramovich? To some of them, it remains possible to continue to celebrate him for all that he has done for their club and condemn his nation’s senseless war on Ukraine.

The banner was still up inside the ground – the one that says “Roman Empire” and has an image of him – but there was only one chant of Abramovich’s name that stood out in the 66th minute and that was quickly superseded by another for the manager, Thomas Tuchel, who really is the man in