NICOLAS JACKSON continued his fine form in the United States as Chelsea were held by Newcastle in Atlanta.
The Blues’ £32m summer signing opened the scoring against the Toon at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a 12th minute finish.
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Senegal international Jackson now has two goals in three games for his new club on this USA trip, as well as four assists.
Miguel Almiron equalised just before half time in what was a tightly contested clash.
Eddie Howe’s Toon remain unbeaten in their pre-season so far, as do Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea, who face Fulham in Washington on Sunday before a challenging encounter against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago next week to tee up their Premier League opener against Liverpool on August 12.
After Poch stated in his pre-match press conference that James was a candidate for the captaincy, the England international was given the armband from the off against the Toon – his first outing of pre-season having missed the start due to illness.
Enzo Fernandez also made his first start of the trip, while Mykhailo Mudryk was handed a second start on the spin following his first goal for the club against Brighton in Philadelphia.
Poch used this clash to experiment with both of his new attacking summer signings in the same line-up. £54m Christopher Nkunku as a roaming No.10 with Jackson leading the line.
It took Jackson just 12 minutes to grab his second goal in Chelsea colours, latching on to an inch-perfect Ian Maatsen through ball and slotting first time into the bottom corner past Martin Dubravka.
Jackson’s first came last week against the Seagulls at the Lincoln Financial Field Stadium.
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Newcastle then suffered an early injury blow – defender Fabian Schar limping off with an injury in the 34th minute, with youngster Alex Murphy being chucked on.
Newcastle’s first chance of the half then came via Murphy, his near-post headed flick well stopped by Kepa.
Mudryk looked to be at his electric best, putting Kieran Trippier on his backside in the box after a darting run down the left, while Jackson wasted a great chance to double Chelsea’s lead before the break.
It proved costly, with Anthony Gordon’s beautifully weighted pass for Almiron catching out Marc Cucurella and the Paraguayan curled past Kepa.
The celebrations from the entire stadium were deafening for Almiron, welcoming back a player that starred for Atlanta United at this ground from December 2016 to January 2019.
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Chelsea made several changes at the break, with Raheem Sterling and Conor Gallagher replacing Jackson and Mudryk.
It was a slow start to the half for both sides until Nkunku cut inside and tested second half sub Nick Pope down to his right in the 58th minute.
Pope was called into action five minutes later with a stunning stop to deny Gallagher from the edge of the box. The Three Lions keeper had a superb cameo.
More changes came Chelsea’s way as Fernandez, Maatsen, Cucurella and James were replaced by Ben Chilwell Carney Chukwuemeka, Andrey Santos and Malo Gusto.