Newcastle squander two-goal lead in thrilling 2-2 draw with Chelsea

NEWCASTLE, England, Dec 20 : Newcastle ‌United were held to a 2-2 draw by Chelsea after Nick Woltemade's first-half double was cancelled out by a Reece James free kick and Joao Pedro equaliser in an entertaining clash in the Premier League on Saturday.

Woltemade's double inside 20 minutes had Newcastle flying but once again Eddie Howe's side squandered a lead, extending their clean sheet drought to 10 Premier League games after a resurgent Chelsea made a stirring comeback in the second half.

The result leaves Chelsea in fourth place with 29 points while Newcastle, whose defensive frailties continue to cost them precious points, remain in the bottom half in ‌11th with 23.

"It was clearly a game of two halves. In the first half they ‌got the better of us in nearly every department," James told TNT Sports.

"Second half, we came out, we had to review and change a few things. We started the second half quick and the game turned quickly."

WOLTEMADE MAKES AMENDS

Still smarting from Sunday's derby defeat at Sunderland, Newcastle burst out of the blocks and needed less than four minutes to take the lead at a raucous St James' Park when Woltemade made amends for his own goal last week.

Jacob Murphy's cross found Anthony Gordon at the far post but Chelsea's Robert Sanchez made a ‍superb save, only for the ball to fall to Woltemade in the box and the Germany striker fired home the rebound.

Chelsea were rattled and before they could recover found themselves 2-0 down when Gordon curled another cross in and Woltemade stuck a leg out to direct the ball inside the far post.

Woltemade was inches away from a first-half hat-trick when Gordon found him with another tantalising cross, but the striker volleyed just ​wide while Lewis Miley also headed