Newcastle beat 10-man Chelsea to close in on Champions League spot
LOOKING UP: Newcastle United's Sandro Tonali celebrates scoring their side's first goal.
Newcastle 2 Chelsea 0
NICOLAS Jackson lost the plot as Chelsea lost their heads to play an unwanted role in helping Newcastle take a huge stride towards a Champions League return.
Jackson's first-half red card ensured the Blues' uphill task took on Everest-like proportions as their top five aspirations suffered a significant blow at the hands of one of their main rivals for a place in Europe's premier competition.
Newcastle climbed to third on the back of a sixth consecutive home league win and Eddie Howe's upwardly-mobile side can maintain their bid to finish second with a win at Arsenal next weekend.
Despite this setback, victory in their final two games will be enough for Chelsea to seal a place back in the Champions League. Of course they will have to attempt that without the services of Jackson as the final-day trip to Nottingham Forest increasingly adopts the mantle of a play-off for the top five.
The contest was effectively settled by Jackson's cowardly forearm smash to Sven Botman's cheekbone in an aerial challenge near halfway 10 minutes before the interval with the ill-disciplined visitors already in arrears thanks to Sandro Tonali's early opener.
Referee John Brooks initially issued the Senegal international striker with a yellow card, but quickly upgraded it to red having been invited to review his decision by video assistant Darren England.
Enzo Maresca was cautioned for his attempts to defend the indefensible and mouthy skipper Enzo Fernandez soon followed the Blues boss into the book for Chelsea's 95th caution of the campaign - an unwanted Premier League high this season.
Four visiting players surrounded Brooks to continue the pointless protests en route to the tunnel at half-time. Hopefully the blue lynch mob calmed down after having a chance to review their team-mate's brainless indiscretion during the interval.
Newcastle enjoyed the perfect start, Tonali making and finishing a second minute opener as the Italian dispossessed Romeo Lavia before meeting Jacob Murphy's subsequent cross with a close range first-time finish for his sixth goal of the season to immediately put Chelsea on the back-foot.
The visitors rallied at the outset of the second half and Marc Cucurella forced a smart low save from Nick Pope with his side's first real threat on goal after an hour.
To their credit Chelsea remained in the contest until the death and might have levelled with a late header from substitute Reece James as the 10 men refused to wilt under the energy-sapping midday sun.
Newcastle had to wait until stoppage time for the nerve-soothing second goal, Bruno Guimaraes finding the top corner in spectacular style with a deflected effort from outside the area, Chelsea unable to recover from largely self-inflicted wounds to make it just one win in their last 10 Premier League away games.
Newcastle (3-4-3): Pope 7; Schar 7, Botman 7 (Miley 55. 7), Burn 8; Murphy 8, Guimaraes 8 (Longstaff 90, 5), Tonali 8, Livramento 7; Barnes 6, Isak 6 (Wilson 90, 5), Gordon 6 (Krafth 65, 7). Booked: Schar, Murphy, Guimaraes.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez 7; Caicedo 7, Chalobah 7 (Sancho 75, 5), Colwill 7, Cucurella 6; Lavia 4 (Gusto 75, 5), Fernandez 6; Neto 5, Palmer 5, Madueke 4 (James 46, 6); Jackson 0. Sent off: Jackson. Booked: Fernandez, Colwill.
Referee: John Brooks
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