Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea: Magpies beat 10-player Chelsea in top five clash | OneFootball

Newcastle United defeated 10-player Chelsea at St. James’ Park to take a huge step towards UEFA Champions League qualification.

Sandro Tonali’s fourth Premier League goal of the season set the tone early in the game, and Nicolas Jackson’s red card in the final 10 minutes of the first half made the visitors job all the more difficult.

It took until the 90th minute for Newcastle to confirm the three points, with Bruno Guimarães putting the contest to bed and solidifying his side’s position in the top five.

As it happened

It was a beautiful day on Tyneside and a packed out St James’ Park was all set up for a Champions League showdown. Injuries to Kieran Tripper and Joe Willock meant two changes for the hosts, with Sven Botman and Anthony Gordon coming into the side. On the other hand, Chelsea stuck to the same 11 that beat the new Premier League champions Liverpool.

Newcastle took the lead inside two minutes. Chelsea failed to clear the ball and it fell to The Magpies’ assist-king Jacob Murphy, who found Tonali in the box to tap in the go-ahead goal.

The hosts were using their pace on the break, with Livramento constantly overlapping Gordon and but failing to pull the trigger when through on goal. Newcastle had the wind in their sails and Guimarães’ attempted volley went just wide of the post. When Chelsea did get on the ball, all of their passes were being played in front of a very disciplined Newcastle structure.

Alexander Isak struck a volley into the ground and into the keeper’s arms after a flick down from Sven Botman. For a man in his form, he probably should have done better. Up the other end, Cole Palmer had two attempts on goal deflected away, the second going out for a corner. Jackson looked very isolated up front for Chelsea, with the striker having to run the channels repeatedly to get on the ball.

Moisés Caicedo latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the box, but his long range effort was skewed well wide of the post. With 30 minutes gone, Newcastle were good value for their lead as they had created the better chances of the two sides. For all their possession since the goal, Chelsea really struggled to obtain true dominance in the match, as Palmer’s passing range was slightly off.

There was a VAR check for a aerial challenge by Jackson on Botman, the replays showing he looked at the defender before his forearm came up to his face. The referee was advised to check the monitor after originally giving Jackson a yellow card. The decision was changed to a red card, meaning the striker will not play again in the Premier League this season.

With no centre forward to replace Jackson, Palmer was pushed into a false nine position and Noni Madueke just off him. The latter of those two made his way down the left and to the by-line and picked out Pedro Neto, whose shot was brilliantly blocked by Dan Burn.

Due to the VAR check, six minutes were added onto the end of the half. After a Newcastle attack, Neto collected the ball on the edge of the Chelsea area and turned on the afterburners to breeze past Burn, but his eventual shot was deflected behind. The half time whistle blew and Chelsea needed to regroup, while Newcastle were in total control.

Chelsea brought on Reece James for the second half, replacing Madueke. There was a early scare, as Livramento went up for a header and landed awkwardly, clutching his knee. Fortunately, he was able to continue. Palmer had the first effort of the half and it was a daisy cutter straight at Nick Pope. Gordon went down looking for a penalty but the referee denied any claims.

The game appeared to become much more end to end, despite the visitors being a man down. Chelsea repeatedly got down both sides, however there was no one to aim for in the box. From a Tonali corner, Isak tried a spectacular volley which flew equally as spectacularly wide.

Newcastle continued to keep their rigid shape from the first half, refusing to leave any gaps for Chelsea. Once they regained the ball, Barnes broke down the right but delivered a poor ball in, straight at Robert Sánchez. Cucurella forced Pope into his first real save, as his low drive was palmed away well by the Newcastle keeper.

Jadon Sancho and Malo Gusto came on for Romeo Lavia and Trevor Chalobah, the visitors obviously going for broke. On 75 minutes, Barnes had a chance to kill the game but his heavy touch went through to the keeper. Chelsea actually looked a better side after being reduced to 10 men. On 81 minutes, Enzo Fernández forced Pope to tip the ball over the bar.

With three minutes until stoppage time, Chelsea wasted their biggest chance. Gusto floated a lovely ball in and James could not keep his header down. Newcastle wrapped it up on 90 minutes, as Burn passed to Guimarães, who let fly from 20 yards and into the top corner via a deflection.

This result means that Newcastle are now third on 66 points, while Chelsea stay fifth and hope Nottingham Forest drop points in their game later today. Chelsea travel to Forest on the last day, sure to be a huge game.

The lineups

NEW: Pope; Schär, Botman, Burn; Murphy, Guimarães, Tonali, Livramento; Barnes, Gordon; Isak