Date: Sunday 26th August 2018
Kick off: 4pm
TV: Live on Sky Sports
Competition: Premier League
Distance from SJP: 101 Miles
Allocation: 3,000 - Sold Out
Having won their opening two Premier League games the visiting Chelsea fans arrived with optimism as well as in numbers despite the fact that they had failed to win in their previous seven visits to St James'.
As the two teams emerged from the tunnel a yellow flag reading 'Chelsea here, Chelsea there' was passed along the away end.
Throughout the first half they made a reasonable amount of noise, tailing off towards the end of the half after a period of no real goalmouth action from either side.
The second half began and so did the Chelsea pressure, which helped boost the noise emitted from the away end. The substitution of Alvaro Morata for Olivier Giroud promoted the traveling fans to simultaneously shout Giroud.
As the watch reached 65 minutes the game appeared to be heading for a 0-0, much reflected by the lack of enthusiasm from both sets of fans.
75 minutes and Chelsea are awarded a penalty, which Eden Hazard dispatched calmly into the bottom left corner of the Leazes net. The Blues fans celebrated by chanting Eden Hazards name to the tune of No Limit by 2 Unlimited.
As Joselu made the score one a piece the away end fell almost silent with a lot of arm folding visible from my seat. The lack of noise from the Chelsea fans, after Newcastle's leveler, was picked up on by the fans adjacent to the away end taunting the Chelsea lot with 'you only sing when you're winning'.
However, only four minutes later Chelsea had recaptured the lead which led to wild celebrations, including one fan jumping from his seat to the walkway of level 7. Chelsea fans then went on to sing back 'you only sing when your drawing' followed by two of the most generic chants in the football league 'is there a fire drill' and 'Cheerio'.
Overall, decent support from Chelsea, not affected by the Sunday 4 O'clock kick off, and certainly not the worst we'll see this season.
Away Fan League 18/19
Team Day+Time TV Number
1 - Chelsea Sun 4pm Sky 3,000
2 - Spurs Sat 12:30 Sky 3,000