An early goal from Sandro Tonali and a late Bruno Guimarães effort gave Newcastle United a 2-0 home win over Chelsea on Sunday that moves the Magpies a step closer to Champions League football next season, with Blues striker Nicolas Jackson denting his side’s hopes by being sent off in the first half.
The win leaves Newcastle in third spot on 66 points, three ahead of Chelsea, who hold the fifth and final Champions League spot with two games to play. Aston Villa are level with Chelsea on points, with Nottingham Forest, who face already-relegated Leicester City later on Sunday, two points further back.
Midfielder Tonali ghosted in at the far post to steer home a pass from Jacob Murphy in the second minute, and the home side’s task appeared to become easier when Jackson had his initial yellow card upgraded to a red in the 35th minute following an elbow to the head of Newcastle defender Dan Burn.
Despite going down to 10 men, Chelsea dominated for much of the second half, forcing Eddie Howe to make a number of changes to bolster the home side’s defence, and Guimarães sealed the three points with a shot from outside the box that deflected off a defender before sailing into the net in the 90th minute.
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