On a ferocious night in Newcastle came the first major blip of Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea reign, his team of second-stringers hassled out of the Carabao Cup by a home side playing with a different level of urgency and intent en route to a 2-0 win.
In recent midweeks, this group of Chelsea players had cruised past Gent, Barrow and a weakened Panathinaikos by an aggregate score of 13-3 and perhaps the lack of jeopardy in those victories had a softening effect.
