Alan Shearer says Reece James was the sport changer in Chelsea’s 2-2 Premier League comeback draw at Newcastle United on Saturday.
Two goals from Nick Woltemade put Newcastle in firm control before James scored an good free-kick from 25 yards out for the away side.
Joao Pedro then netted the equaliser for Chelsea within the 66th minute as each side gained a degree at St James Park in an exciting match.
‘When you ever need evidence of goals changing games, that’s exactly what happened to Chelsea following Reece James’ free-kick,’ Newcastle icon Shearer told the Premier League website after the draw between the clubs.
‘It just flipped. Newcastle couldn’t get near that Chelsea team [after James’ goal].
‘Chelsea moved it rather a lot quicker, they’d more width, their wingers got into the sport and began asking questions, they didn’t do this in the primary half.’
James: An excellent feeling to attain that free-kick
James scored the primary direct free-kick goal by any player against Newcastle within the Premier League since Raheem Sterling also scored one for Chelsea at St James’ Park in November 2023.
Chelsea captain James has two league goals this season, as many as he netted in 2022-23 (one), 2023-24 (0), and 2024-25 (one) combined.
Talking to TNT Sports about his superb free-kick after the match, James said: ‘To execute one when we wanted to tug something out of the bag was a fantastic feeling.
‘It’s a difficult place to come back, many teams come here and the atmosphere gets the higher of quite a lot of teams. It’s necessary when you may’t win, to not lose.’
Maresca: A top performance from James
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Quizzed about James in his post-match press conference, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said: ‘[It was a] top performance.
‘He played for an hour as a midfielder and for the last half an hour, he was as a full-back. We’re glad for him.’
James: It was a game of two halves
Speaking more generally about Chelsea’s draw at Newcastle, James added: ‘It was a game of two halves. In the primary half, they got the higher of us.
‘Second half we needed to review it, change just a few things, and we began the second half quick. It turned quickly.
‘The messages [at half-time] were more demanding, more effort… there have been too many second balls they won in the primary half that we wanted to tighten up on. And we did that within the second half.’
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