Newcastle United midfielder Isaac Hayden has seemingly taken a swipe at referee David Coote following the club's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. Controversy overshadowed a gutsy display against the Blues, as two major decisions went against the visitors at Stamford Bridge.
Firstly, Chelsea playmaker Kai Havertz was only shown a yellow card for an elbow on Dan Burn, before Jacob Murphy was denied a penalty despite insisting he had been fouled inside the box by Trevoh Chalobah. VAR checked both of the decisions made by Coote but judged that he made the correct decision, prompting what appears to be a sly dig from Hayden.
"Some performance from the boys against 12 men today," Hayden tweeted. "Proud to be associated with the club is an understatement."
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The 26-year-old was not even involved having been left out of Newcastle's 25-man Premier League squad due to injury. However, his reference to Chelsea having 12 men seemingly suggests Hayden felt his side got little help from the officials,
As fate would have it, it was Havertz that went on to notch a late winner, expertly bringing down a floated pass from Jorginho before prodding beyond Martin Dubravka in the Magpies goal.
It was a cruel blow for Newcastle, who aside from the controversy of decisions, held their own against a star-studded Chelsea side. Although they had just 27% of possession, they carved open opportunities and could certainly consider themselves unlucky to have walked away empty-handed.
Havertz's goal condemned the Magpies to their first league loss of 2022, as they had previously not tasted defeat since December 2021, when they were humbled at home against a rampant Manchester City. However, Eddie Howe's men will have an opportunity to bounce back on Thursday when they visit Premier League strugglers Everton.
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