Newcastle 3 Chelsea 2:

Moussa Sissoko paid of a sizeable part of his transfer fee with a superb double to hand Newcastle a precious victory over European champions Chelsea.

The France midfielder marked his home debut with a 68th-minute strike to level the game at 2-2 and then blasted home a brilliant winner to further boost Alan Pardew's survival mission.

French fancy: Moussa Sissoko scored twice on his debutChelsea looked to be on their way to a first victory in four attempts in all competitions when, after Frank Lampard had cancelled out Jonas Gutierrez's first-half opener by scoring his 10th Barclays Premier League goal of the season for the 10th successive campaign, Juan Mata curled home a superb 61st-minute effort.

But a rejuvenated Newcastle refused to accept defeat and Sissoko snatched a dramatic win which was secured when Steven Taylor blocked Lampard's goal-bound effort deep into injury-time.

It was meant to be striker Demba Ba's day as he returned to St James' Park, where he had given sterling service in his 18 months in a black and white shirt.

But having arrived to a less than harmonious welcome, with some Newcastle fans accusing him of chasing the money by heading for Stamford Bridge last month, he departed prematurely with a broken nose to more catcalls after just 42 minutes.

Ouch: Chelsea's Demba Ba is kicked in the face by Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini

Does that hurt? Ba suffered a broken nose

The Magpies followed him down the tunnel just a few minutes later with the advantage at the end of a thoroughly entertaining 45 minutes of football.

While Ba's departure from Tyneside might have come as a major blow to Pardew, the early signs are that the recruitment drive launched in response was astutely conducted.

The confidence gained in Tuesday night's 2-1 victory at Aston Villa with new boys Mathieu Debuchy, Sissoko and Yoan Gouffran in the team was in evidence as the home side set about their task with some relish.

Papiss Cisse, the man Pardew hopes will supply the goals which once came from Ba, saw a fifth-minute effort blocked by defender Gary Cahill, but then failed to test returning keeper Petr Cech adequately when played in by Sissoko after 20 minutes and then Yohan Cabaye 16 minutes later.

Cabaye and full-back Davide Santon both sent rasping volleys just off target in an end-to-end contest in which the Magpies gave as good as they got.