Summary Cisse's 2nd-half double earned Newcastle United a stunning 2-1 win over the Premier League leaders.
NEWCASTLE, United Kingdom: (AFP) - Chelsea were denied a club-record 24-game unbeaten run as Papiss Cisse s second-half double earned Newcastle United a stunning 2-1 win over the Premier League leaders on Saturday.
For the second successive weekend, Jose Mourinho s side struggled in the northeast, as Alan Pardew s Newcastle recorded a third consecutive home win against the title favourites.
Defeat prevented Chelsea from going nine points clear at the league summit and presented Manchester City with an opportunity to trim their lead to three points ahead of their home game against Everton.
Newcastle appeared to have been fired up by Mourinho s pre-match assertion that they seem to save their finest performances for matches against the west London side.
They elected not to adopt the ultra-defensive tactics employed by their neighbours Sunderland, who had held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw last weekend, and were rewarded as Cisse came off the bench to score twice.
A late Didier Drogba effort ensured a nerve-wracking final seven minutes -- plus six minutes of added time -- for the hosts, who lost defender Steven Taylor to a second yellow card.
It proved a memorable debut for Jak Alnwick, Newcastle s third-choice goalkeeper, who came on as a half-time substitute for the injured Rob Elliot.
The 21-year-old produced a wonderful finger-tip save late on to deny an out-of-sorts Diego Costa as Pardew s side held on for a famous victory to mark the manager s impending fourth anniversary in charge.
The visitors could have been three goals up before Newcastle mustered their first attempt on goal, with Thibaut Courtois blocking a close-range effort from Jack Colback after neat approach play from Ayoze Perez.
Newcastle s strong finish to the first half was in contrast to most of what had gone before, as Chelsea dominated, but failed to make their superiority pay.
Taylor, restored to the hosts back four along with skipper Fabricio Coloccini, twice produced last-ditch blocks to deny Costa and Eden Hazard, as some of Newcastle s defensive work bordered on the desperate.
Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill headed wastefully over from a Fabregas corner, and Willian fired two good openings narrowly wide.
