With two goals from Reece James and a penalty by Jorginho, Chelsea beat Newcastle 3-0 at St James’ Park.

Chelsea beat Newcastle on Saturday with two brilliant goals by Reece James. The right-back blasted the ball into the roof of the net after Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross was headed into his path, putting the Blues ahead at the 65 minute mark.

After 12 minutes James struck again, powerfully blasting another goal past goalkeeper Karl Darlow after a shot from substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek was blocked.

The Newcastle keeper then fouled Kai Havertz to give Chelsea a penalty, which Jorginho converted confidently for a third goal.

Chelsea had dominated the first half at St James’ Park, with Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech failing to convert a good James cross, and when a deflection on Ziyech’s shot left Karl Darlow stranded, Havertz failed to convert.

Just as frustration was growing in Chelsea’s ranks, James blasted a ball deflected from Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross.

Newcastle struggled to create chances throughout, and they remain without a league victory this season and are 19th in the table. While there was a rare opportunity when England striker Callum Wilson headed a ball over the crossbar, Newcastle struggled to find space and rhythm.

Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel’s side now extend their lead at the top to three points after second-placed Liverpool drew 2-2 at home to Brighton, and champions Manchester City suffered a shock 2-0 home loss to Crystal Palace.

“What goes around comes around,” Tuchel said when asked if he was celebrating the results elsewhere. “There’s a long way to go. If you think we’re happier now [because of the results], it’s not true.”

“The effort and discipline we put into the [performance] was the key today. We had a very good performance off the ball. I’m very happy with the team effort today.”