We conceded to Nick Woltemade in just the fourth minute at St James’ Park and it was our reaction to going behind that Sanchez felt could have been better.

In the end, the Blues kicked into gear at the start of the second half and indeed could even have turned the game on its head and secured a famous win. Sanchez reflected on how we might have made life easier for ourselves.

‘We always have confidence but we need to make sure we start with intensity from minute one,’ Sanchez said.

‘We conceded the early goal and we could not switch on after that goal, we stayed a bit low and we ended up conceding another one. It was a bit difficult to get going because the goal came so early.

‘We need to learn that if we concede early it doesn’t matter, we still have 85 minutes in front of us. If you concede or someone makes a mistake or whatever, you need to bounce back and keep going because it’s a long game.

‘We did that and we could even have won in the second half. We are really proud of our second half coming back like that in a place like that with the intensity they have.’

Reece James’ superb free-kick got us back into the contest and Sanchez says he had a feeling the skipper would score.

We then drew level and credit must go to Sanchez. The keeper’s quick thinking after claiming a cross and then long kick found Joao Pedro, who nodded the ball into his own path and raced clear to score.

It was the first assist of Sanchez’s career and the first by a Chelsea goalkeeper in the Premier League since 2010.

‘I’m very happy with that one,’ smiled Sanchez.

‘I think I have made some better passes but this one was about Joao, he did incredible. He was strong, won the header, went through and it was a great finish from him.’