'You cannot draw this sort of game in the Premier League', fumes Joao Pedro

Joao Pedro said that Chelsea "cannot draw this sort of game in the Premier League" despite coming from two goals down to seal a share of the spoils with Newcastle United.

Chelsea missed the chance to tighten their grip on a position in the top four after drawing 2-2 at St. James' Park, with Joao Pedro completing the Blues' second-half comeback. 

Nick Woltemade became the fourth player to score twice within the opening 20 minutes of a Premier League game to put Eddie Howe's team seemingly on course for a huge win. 

However, Chelsea halved the deficit four minutes after the restart when Reece James curled a stunning 25-yard free-kick over the wall and beyond the dive of Aaron Ramsdale. 

And the turnaround was complete in the 66th minute when Joao Pedro latched on to Robert Sanchez's long punt forward before finishing into the bottom-right corner. 

Indeed, Sanchez's assist for the Brazilian was the fourth time a goalkeeper assisted a Premier League goal for Chelsea, and first since Petr Cech for a Didier Drogba goal against Tottenham in December 2010.

"I told him [Robert Sanchez] at half-time to play this ball to me. I controlled the ball in front and I scored a brilliant goal. It was different," Joao Pedro said of his goal. 

"I need to learn how to play this kind of game because you cannot draw this sort of game in the Premier League."

Despite Joao Pedro's frustrations, it was a positive result for Chelsea, who avoided defeat in a Premier League away game despite trailing by two or more goals at half-time for only the fourth time, after August 1992 against Sheffield Wednesday (3-3), September 2020 against West Brom (3-3), and April 2024 against Aston Villa (2-2).

But the Blues' first-half display came back to bite them, having been unable to trouble Ramsdale in the Newcastle goal. 

In the first half of this game, Newcastle had seven shots (five on target) to Chelsea's four (none on target), six big chances to none, and 1.97 expected goals (xG) to 0.24.

In the second half, Enzo Maresca's team led for shots with nine (four on target) to four (none on target) and on xG with 1.02 to 0.29.

"We knew it would be a tough game. We played better than them in the second half, we scored twice and we could have scored more goals," Joao Pedro added. 

"We have got a point and we have to move forward. We didn't start well in the first half, and we conceded two goals very quickly.

"They play with the fans, and we know it is difficult."