Chelsea rallied from 2-0 down to salvage a point from an absorbing 2-2 draw with Newcastle United at St James' Park.

Enzo Maresca's men could have been dead and buried before half-time, with Nick Woltemade scoring twice inside the first 20 minutes, then missing a big chance for his hat-trick.

Woltemade's fourth-minute opener came after Anthony Gordon recovered possession high up the pitch, then outmuscled Malo Gusto to turn Jacob Murphy's delivery on goal, with the towering German firing in the rebound of his saved shot.

And his second was assisted by an inch-perfect cross from Gordon out on the left wing. Woltemade poked out a toe to divert the ball into the far corner, with the goal surviving a VAR check for a possible offside.

Woltemade then prodded a near-identical Gordon delivery beyond the far post, while Lewis Miley sent a free header over the top as Newcastle settled for a 2-0 half-time lead.

That scoreline flattered Chelsea, but they were back in the contest when Reece James curled a spectacular free-kick past Aaron Ramsdale in the 49th minute.

And after Trevoh Chalobah avoided conceding a penalty for a heavy challenge on Gordon, Joao Pedro capitalised on some poor positioning from Malick Thiaw to slot home in the 66th minute.

The momentum then swung back Newcastle's way late on, and they should have snatched victory when Harvey Barnes steered Bruno Guimaraes' pinpoint cross off-target, while Anthony Elanga also shot wide on the counter-attack.

James also avoided a stoppage-time sending off following another VAR review, as Chelsea held out for a point that keeps them six clear of Newcastle, in fourth place in the Premier League table.

Data Debrief: Blues produce rare fightback

Last week, Enzo Maresca said he had endured the worst 48 hours of his Chelsea reign. The first 20 minutes of this match may have been his most uncomfortable in the Blues' dugout, but his team fought back for a point.

Newcastle racked up six big chances in the first half, the most on record by any team in the opening 45 minutes of a match against Chelsea and Newcastle's joint-most outright (also six versus Southampton in March 2020).

The 1.97 non-penalty expected goals (xG) conceded by Chelsea in the opening 45 minutes, meanwhile, was their most before half-time since December 2023 (2.15 against Manchester United).

Woltemade became the fourth Newcastle player to score twice in the opening 20 minutes of a Premier League game at St James' Park, after Andy Cole versus Liverpool in 1993, Duncan Ferguson against Southampton in 2000 and Jacob Murphy versus Tottenham in 2023.

But after he passed up his hat-trick chance, Chelsea showed great character to recover a point from a game in which they lost the expected goals battle by 2.26 xG to 1.25.

This was just the fourth time Chelsea have avoided defeat when trailing by two goals at half-time in an away Premier League match, also doing so versus Sheffield Wednesday in 1992 (3-3), West Brom in 2020 (3-3), and Aston Villa in 2024 (2-2).