Chelsea Unconvincing Against Newcastle but Show Killer Instinct with Win

LONDON — Jose Mourinho was a no-show for his post-match press conference at Stamford Bridge, and for the first 42 minutes of this game against Newcastle United, his team did not turn up as well.

Chelsea were poor and struggled to deal with the threat of John Carver's side as the visitors poured forward and dominated.

Then Oscar scored against the run of play and Chelsea took control from there, winning 2-0.

With Manchester City dropping points against Everton, this was a vital win. Victory puts Chelsea clear at the top of the table once again, reasserting their control.

Assistant manager Steve Holland took on the post-match media responsibilities and admitted Mourinho had some choice words for his players at half-time.

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"The level of consistency with the players has been exceptional, we've only lost two matches," he said. "Of the two matches we've lost, we didn't play badly.

"[...] We didn't have enough players playing to the level we're quite used to seeing in the first half. The manager reminded one or two of them at half-time of what was required and there was a very good response from the players.

"It's very difficult to meet the levels of performance that people expect week in, week out, especially in this country. We play so many matches at this time of year and the players have had a battering over Christmas."

The performance against Newcastle will disappoint Chelsea, even though they recorded another victory. They've shown this season they have real desire to win by being on the front foot, and they lacked that tenacity we have so often seen.

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Playing badly or not, three points and a clean sheet are what matter, though, and looking beyond how his players performed, Mourinho will have no qualms over the character and killer instinct they showed.

For all their dominance, Newcastle could only have themselves to blame for not taking something from this game.

They lacked the belief in front of goal and, above all else, the ruthless streak Chelsea demonstrated in abundance.

What will win Chelsea the Premier League is the initiative and guile Willian showed for the opener, winning a corner and taking it quickly for Branislav Ivanovic to cross and Oscar to score.

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Newcastle were busy setting up their defence, and before they knew it, Tim Krul's net was bulging.

Poor performance up to that point, yes, but few can fault the ingenuity of Chelsea.

When they're at their free-flowing best, they also have Diego Costa to finish teams off, as he did when scoring Chelsea's second after some excellent build-up play.

They had to dig deep against a Newcastle side that have a habit of making life difficult for Chelsea.

It happened at St. James' Park last month, and knowing what to expect this time out, Chelsea showed they had learned their lesson.

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After creating such a dominant lead at the top early in the campaign, many of us thought Chelsea were going to run away with the title.

We've since learned not to be so naive. Mourinho's men have a considerable fight on their hands to topple City, but what we're seeing now is they are up for it.

Beating Newcastle, they've taken a considerable leap forward.

It's matches like this that will see them crowned champions.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes