Newcastle United took a giant leap towards the 2025/26 Champions League with an incredibly tense 2-0 victory over ten-man Chelsea at St James' Park early on Sunday afternoon.
Roaring into life backed by one of the loudest crowds ever heard at the modern SJP, the Magpies took just two minutes to hit the front thanks to Sandro Tonali, who started and finished the move, getting on the end of yet another Jacob Murphy at the Leazes End.
From there, it looked like it could be another Spurs situation as Eddie Howe's charges swarmed all over their shell-shocked visitors, but the second goal remained elusive even after Nicolas Jackson was sent off for landing a forearm smash on Sven Botman.
Coming out from half-time 1-0 up, what unfolded was rather baffling as Chelsea spent the majority of the second period dominating the ball and looking like the side with 11 players. Nick Pope made a couple of vital stops before Bruno Guimarães wrapped it up late on.
The result was ultimately all that mattered, but Howe and Co. won't have liked what they saw from us after the interval. Here's how we rated everyone involved in another pulsating occasion at the 'cathedral on the hill', with highs of 9 and a low of 2 for a certain winger...
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0 Sandro
Serena Taylor / Newcastle United
Sandro Tonali has been immense in the second half of the season and his goal summed him up perfectly
The Good
Bruno Guimarães and Sandro Tonali were fielded as a duo for the first time and stepped up massively, each nabbing a goal and putting in huge shifts in the centre of the park. Tonali won possession and finished the move for the early opener, while Guimarães secured the result with a heavily deflected effort late on. The Italian just edged the Brazilian for our Man of the Match award, but they were both tremendous.
Behind them, the entire back five had strong afternoons, but Nick Pope and Sven Botman were our picks of the bunch. Pope's handling and distribution were first-class, while the pair of quality saves he made from Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernández were vital. For Botman's part, he looked like he'd never been away, and it was no surprise that we fell to pieces for a little while after he was withdrawn in the 55th minute.
Playing as wing-backs, Jacob Murphy and Tino Livramento were great for different reasons. Murphy started the game like a house on fire and grabbed a lovely little assist for Tonali's opener, but struggled once moved back to an orthodox right-back position following Botman's substitution. Livramento defended excellently throughout against a tricky opponent in Pedro Neto, but wasn't able to get forward much.
Fabian Schär and Dan Burn seemed to enjoy playing in a back three with Botman and were a huge part of our tactical dominance in the first half. Their bravery in the press was commendable, and they showed excellent aggression to win possession back for us time and time again. Burn was heavily involved in Bruno's goal, too, and was a constant threat from set pieces and high balls into the box.
A word for Emil Krafth, who shored things up when pressed into action in the 65th minute with Chelsea putting us under increasing pressure. He's one of the most reliable players we've ever seen at the club, and even though he's barely played any minutes, we've got him in our top ten for the season for ratings. It's not easy to play so few minutes and be so dependable when you're required.
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0 Bruno
Serena Taylor / Newcastle United
Bruno Guimarães seemed to enjoy playing in a pair of 'sixes' with Sandro Tonali and wrapped things up late
The Bad
We appreciate that he was being played out of position on the right, but Harvey Barnes looked like a competition winner out there. Nothing he tried came off. His passes were typically underhit, he made poor decisions when getting into good positions, and he wasted numerous opportunities to make the contest much more relaxing for everyone of a black and white persuasion. Let's be frank, he was bloody woeful.
Not that Alexander Isak was that much better, mind! Our superlative Swede has struggled for a while now, and he's not playing with the coolness or confidence of the earlier part of the season. Others have been stepping up in his stead, fortunately, but we'd have long since secured Champions League qualification if he were anywhere near his best. He's still working plenty hard, to be fair!
How John Brooks didn't dish out a red card to Jackson on first viewing is a mystery, but it sums up the standard of officiating in the 'best league in the world'. He did, at least, make the right decision when sent to the screen by Darren England. That moment aside, he was far too lenient on Chelsea, with Moisés Caicedo, in particular, getting away with numerous heavy challenges on Gordon in the first half.
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0 Murphy
Serena Taylor / Newcastle United
Jacob Murphy made it 20 goal involvements for the season with yet another great assist at the Leazes End
The Average
Speaking of Anthony Gordon, he was decent here without being at his sparkling best. He had Caicedo on toast for all of the first half, and if he had been given more protection by Brooks, then he could've had a far larger impact on the contest. We'd still play him over Barnes down the left any day of the week.
While it wasn't completely his fault, Lewis Miley's introduction saw us looking worse rather than better. He constantly left our right flank exposed, which put massive pressure on the out-of-position Murphy, and Howe was forced to make a second substitute to redress the balance. He did well in possession, at least.
Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff mustered a touch apiece between them and completed the only passes they attempted. That'll do for us!
This is a really difficult game to rate Eddie Howe on, because he set us up perfectly and got the result, and the first half was one of our best of the season. We don't understand how we completely lost control after the break, though, and his initial substitute made things worse rather than better. He did rectify things somewhat by introducing Krafth, but we should have won this game comfortably in the circumstances.
We had optimistically hoped Chelsea would fold after the red card because they seemed to be losing their heads, but the Blues deserve credit for how they regrouped at the interval and came out in the second half. We made them look awful in the first 45 minutes, but they were the better side thereafter. We'd still find it hilarious if they miss out on the Champions League, though, the PSR-dodging rascals.
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0 Pope
Serena Taylor / Newcastle United
We've been quite critical of Nick Pope this season but this was arguably his best game of the campaign
The Breakdown
We've had a few games lately where the front three have been, by far, the lowest scorers!
The XI
Nick Pope – 8
Jacob Murphy – 8
Fabian Schär – 8
Sven Botman – 8 (off 55')
Dan Burn – 8
Tino Livramento – 8
Bruno Guimarães – 9 (off 90+4')
Sandro Tonali – 9 ⭐️
Harvey Barnes – 3
Alexander Isak – 5 (off 90+4')
Anthony Gordon – 6 (off 65')
The Subs
Lewis Miley – 6 (on 55')
Emil Krafth – 7 (on 65')
Callum Wilson – 6 (on 90+4')
Sean Longstaff – 6 (on 90+4')
The Gaffer
Eddie Howe – 6
The Opposition
Chelsea – 6
The Ref
John Brooks – 5
01 Isak
Serena Taylor/Newcastle United
We could do with the Janaury version of Alexander Isak back for our second trip to the Emirates this season
The Next
It's a colossal battle between second and third in the 2024/25 Premier League table, as we head to the Emirates Stadium for our fourth showdown of the season with old 'Lego Head' and his billion-dollar Stoke City tribute act.
Should we beat the Gunners for an unprecedented fourth time in a single campaign, we'll leapfrog them into the runners-up spot with one game to play. That's mad when you stop and think about it.
(Oh, it's a 4.30 p.m. (BST) kick-off on Sunday and will be shown live on Sky!)
HOWAY THE LADS!!!