It was supposed to be Sam Allardyce whose job was on the line, but instead the home crowd told Avram Grant: “You don’t know what you’re doing”, and chanted Jose Mourinho’s name on an afternoon when Chelsea were dominant, but lacked firepower, and scored their late winner from an offside position. Grant, with two defeats in his 22 games in charge, made light of the fans’ derision, but Allardyce could not afford to be so sanguine about the inexplicable decision by the referee’s assistant, Mike Cairns, to allow Salomon Kalou’s deciding goal to stand.

Newcastle, after a spirited fightback, thought they were set for a morale-boosting result after Nicky Butt’s second half equaliser, but were denied a point in cruel circumstances, when Kalou tucked away the decisive goal from six yards - and yards offside. “It wasn’t even close,” one of Grant’s aides admitted. Allardyce said: “It was clear-cut, blatantly offside, there was only a blue shirt between our goal-keeper and our goal. It was a decision I wouldn’t mind getting myself in trouble talking about, but as a manager you can’t really say what you think. It hurts deeply, though. A result has been taken away from us through no fault of ours.”

Michael Essien had given Chelsea the lead after 29 minutes, but thereafter a flood of possession came to nought for the want of the finishing usually supplied by Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Andriy Shevchenko, all of whom were absent injured, and Newcastle hit back with great spirit in the second half. From the black and white perspective, this was the performance needed to atone for that Boxing Day surrender at Wigan. More of the same at home to Manchester City on Wednesday could provide the lift-off that Allardyce needs.

Newcastle’s most notable absentee, given his circumstances, was Joey Barton, remanded in custody on charges of assault and affray. His footballing future, the manager said, would be decided at boardroom level. The initiative was with Chelsea from the outset and the first save – a good one – was made by Shay Given. It came after Shaun Wright-Phillips had burst past Charles N’Zogbia – a regular occurrence – before supplying Juliano Belletti, who cut the ball back for Kalou, whose shot was impressively repelled.

Chelsea might have had the goal their superiority warranted but Alex’s free header from Belletti’s free kick went straight to Given. Newcastle’s reprieve lasted only a matter of seconds. Then Belletti’s throw-in from the right was inadequately defended, allowing Michael Ballack to head the ball on to Wright-Phillips. The England winger’s shot, scuffed into the ground, hit Kalou and was deflected to Essien, who stabbed home from the six-yard line after Steven Taylor had made a maladroit hash of clearing the danger.

Allardyce and his team were in familiar territory, behind yet again. How would they respond? With encouraging resilience and determination, although Wright-Phillips should have doubled the margin just before the interval, when he headed weakly wide at the far post from Joe Cole’s cross.

The second goal Chelsea needed might have arrived in the first minute of the second half, when Wright-Phillips’ pace again embarrassed N’Zogbia, an achilles heel of a left-back, and Butt’s intended clearance tested Given overhead.

With Chelsea on top, the home crowd had just started taunting the “Toon Army” with choruses of “You’re worse than Sunderland” when Newcastle stunned them into silence by equalising.

Not for the first time, Mikel gave the ball away carelessly in midfield and N’Zogbia drove to the byline on the left before delivering a well directed cross. Martins met it in the middle, improvising a backheel to Butt, who bundled the ball over the line.

Grant’s decision to replace Cole with Claudio Pizarro midway through the second half was greeted with abuse from the crowd, who bellowed in unision that their manager didn’t know what he was doing. It was a strange reaction, even allowing for Cole’s popularity, for he had never been anywhere near his best, and there was more of the same after 75 minutes, when Ballack, tiring after eight months out, gave way to Scott Sinclair. The home fans’ displeasure would have known no bounds had Damien Duff given Newcastle the lead against his old club, as he would have done after 68 minutes but for Belletti’s last-ditch intervention.

The winning goal bordered on the ludicrous. Mikel’s initial shot hit Pizarro and rebounded to Kalou, who was not so much feet as yards offside when he scored.

Allardyce was mortified. He said: “We’re living in a more volatile atmosphere in the Premiership, with seven managers losing their jobs already, and I want to know why that decision was made. I asked the linesman and got no answer. Why did he do it? Blind fear. He’s got to make a crucial decision at a critical time on Chelsea’s home ground, and maybe his arm was frozen.”

Match stats

Chelsea: Hilario 6, Belletti 6, Alex 6, Ben Haim 6, Bridge 6, Essien 6, Mikel 5, Ballack 5 (Sinclair 75min), J Cole 5 (Pizarro 65min), Kalou 6, Wright-Phillips 7 (Sidwell 90min) Star man: Nicky Butt (Newcastle)

Newcastle: Given 7, Beye 7, Cacapa 6, Taylor 7, N’Zogbia 5, Faye 7, Butt 9, Milner 5, Smith 5 (Rozehnal 69min), Martins 6 (Owen 73min), Duff 5 (Viduka 89min)

Scorers: Chelsea: Essien 29, Kalou 87. Newcastle: Butt 56