Newcastle United 3-0 Chelsea, Premier League: Post-match reaction

After taking much flack for his lineup choices on Wednesday, Conte returned to the plan that worked against Liverpool, expecting a tough game as usual at St James’.

Conte did make three changes to the Liverpool team (Barkley for Fabregas, Emerson for Alonso, Christensen for Rüdiger), but those should not have mattered this much. What mattered greatly however was the absolute lack of desire, motivation, and quality from the Blues on this final day of the season.

The home side added to their slim first-half lead with a quickfire double salvo early in the second half, as Chelsea collapsed not for the first time this season. Bad day, bad season.

Still, the FA Cup final awaits.

Onwards.

• Even if Chelsea had won, with Liverpool and Spurs both winning as well, we were not going to make the top four unfortunately. That fate was sealed a long time ago, despite the recent resurgence.
• This was Chelsea’s 1000th Premier League match, the final of the 26th season of the competition. Not one to remember.
• Chelsea finish the 2017-18 season in 5th place, 5 points behind 4th. Room for improvement.
• KTBFFH

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