Chelsea have secured safe passage into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup thanks to a penalty-shootout victory over Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
Both sides came out on top in their last league outings over the weekend and headed into the cup tie full of confidence but it was Newcastle who flew out of the blocks and made a fast start to the contest.
However, Chelsea came closest to breaking the deadlock inside the opening six minutes after Conor Gallagher produced a lovely strike from the edge of the box which rattled the woodwork.
Just when it looked like Chelsea were beginning to gain a foothold in the game, the Blues conceded a very avoidable goal from their point of view as Callum Wilson pounced on a Benoit Badiashile error to fire beyond Djordje Petrovic.
Having gone behind, the home side intensified their attacking endeavour as they looked to get back on level terms.
Sterling was presented with a glorious opportunity to restore parity just shy of the half-hour mark but a last-gasp intervention from Bruno Guimaraes denied the Jamaican.
An injury to Enzo Fernandez saw Armando Broja make an early introduction and the Albanian had the ball in the net eight minutes shy of half time but his strike was ruled out for offside.
Broja was at it again deep into first-half stoppage time when he unleashed a tame effort which was comfortably dealt with by Martin Dubravka
That was the final noteworthy action of the first half and Chelsea headed into the interval needing a big second half just like their most recent involvement against Sheffield United.
On as a substitute at half-time, Malo Gusto produced some lovely combination play with fellow substitute Broja and the latter produced a lovely cross for Jackson but the striker dragged his effort just wide of the left post.
Moments later, Chelsea threatened the Newcastle goal again through Raheem Sterling who called Dubravka into action with a low drive towards the bottom corner.
Those two Chelsea chances in quick succession were followed by a predominantly pedestrian spell in which the hosts dominated without any end product.
With 20 minutes of normal time left to play, Christopher Nkunku was brought on for his Chelsea debut as Mauricio Pochettino turned to his marquee summer arrival.
All of Chelsea’s second-half pressure continued to yield no result and the Blues looked set to exit the Carabao Cup in front of their fans until Mykhailo Mudryk pounced on a defensive lapse from Kieran Trippier to send the tie to penalties.
Cole Palmer and Callum Wilson both converted the first spot-kick for their respective teams but after Gallagher put Chelsea ahead for the second time, Trippier blasted his effort off-target and handed the West Londoners the advantage.
Nkunku and Guimaraes both converted the subsequent penalties for either side and Mudryk got the better of Dubravka for the second time on the night shortly afterwards to leave Matt Richie in a must-score situation to keep Newcastle alive.
The 34-year-old was however denied by Petrovic on his second start for Chelsea, who are now through to the last four of the Carabao Cup.
For Newcastle, the Magpies have now been knocked out of a second cup competition in the space of what has turned out to be a highly disappointing week.
