Super-sub Drogba to the rescue

Chelsea 1 Newcastle 0

Top scorer Didier Drogba climbed off the substitutes’ bench to fire the matchwinner and cut Manchester United’s lead to five points at the top of the Barclays Premiership.

Drogba, left out of the starting line-up because of a niggling hamstring problem, replaced injured Ricardo Carvalho at half-time.

The switch paid dividends in the 74th minute when he slid the ball home from Andriy Shevchenko’s flick-on for his 15th of the season.