Chelsea dominated possession and the shot count at St James’ Park, but two quickfire Newcastle goals midway through the first half proved decisive. As Veiga was quick to highlight, both were avoidable from our perspective, while the chances we had to get back in the game could have made it a very different story.

‘We managed it well but then we had that period of ten minutes with the two goals where we couldn’t keep our balance,’ assessed Veiga.

‘The first goal was unfortunate, foul or no foul, we had no VAR. The second goal we can’t concede after the first goal. It’s important to keep our balance and as the coach said at half-time, not to concede a goal in that way from a free-kick. But it is what it is. We had our chances.

‘It was a good game from our side. We will keep the positives and learn from the negatives. We had the game, we followed the plan, and that’s football. That’s why it’s the beautiful game, because it’s unpredictable.

‘We have to take our chances and we will do better. We focus on what we can control. We focus on the Premier League, we focus on the Conference League and we move on.’

Veiga and his teammates don’t have to wait long to put things right. We travel back north on Sunday to play Manchester United, seeking a first win at Old Trafford since 2013. Veiga is already looking forward to it.

‘We’re Chelsea, we go into every game to win, and we move on,' Veiga said. 'Nothing changes, we just lost a game, we got knocked out, that’s part of football, and we move on and focus on the positives, above all.’