For Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, eking out results is more important than stylish performances as the Blues adapt to new coach Maurizio Sarri’s demands.

Chelsea’s 100 per cent start under the Italian continued with a hard-fought but fortuitous 2-1 win at Newcastle on Sunday to take them joint-top of the fledgling Premier League table.

Although they enjoyed more than 80 per cent possession against Rafa Benitez’s ultra-defensive side, the visitors had a contentious penalty, converted by Eden Hazard, and a late own goal by DeAndre Yedlin to thank for a third straight win. Their coach has warned that it could take three months for his players to adopt ‘Sarri-ball’, the possession-heavy, one-touch football that established his reputation at Napoli, and they lacked a cutting edge against this five-man defence.

But centre-half Rudiger said: “The three points are more important [than style] because the performances will definitely come. We’re improving.

“Game-by-game I think it’s getting better. Before the internationals [at the start of September], we’ll try to win all of our games and then come back after and go on. That’s our target.”

Chelsea completed more than 800 passes against Newcastle and Sarri’s side already looks unrecognisable compared to the wing-back-driven team of predecessor, Antonio Conte, although Rudiger called for an end to comparisons between the two Italians.

“Stop comparing [Sarri and Conte],” he said. “We do a lot of possession and try to press high.

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“The system is good for our attacking players because we mostly have the ball, but it’s normal that you lose it, so we need big players to come to the back and I think N’Golo [Kante] and [Mateo] Kovacic did very well.”

Hazard, who was making his first start of the season, was the game’s outstanding player, converting a 76th-minute penalty after debutant Fabian Schar tangled with Marcos Alonso.

Newcastle, who were without on-loan Chelsea winger Kenedy and captain Jamaal Lascelles, appeared to have rescued an unlikely point when substitute Joselu headed home Yedlin’s cross.

But Alonso was again involved two minutes later as US international Yedlin turned into his own net.

“We were resilient — that’s a good sign,” added Rudiger. “It meant we are ready — it was a difficult game but in the end we fully deserved this win.

“If you saw the whole game, I wouldn’t say that it’s luck.”