Newcastle beat 10-man Chelsea to take step towards Champions League spot

Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes fired Newcastle a step closer to Champions League qualification as 10-man Chelsea’s hopes were dealt a significant blow on Tyneside.

Tonali’s second-minute strike and Bruno’s deflected effort at the death secured a 2-0 victory at St James’ Park on a day when the visitors had to cope with a numerical disadvantage for 55 minutes after striker Nicolas Jackson was sent off for elbowing Sven Botman.

In truth, the Blues made a much better fist of it with 10 than they had with 11, and it took fine second-half saves from Nick Pope to deny Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez an equaliser which might have proved so costly.

Eddie Howe’s men moved back into third place as a result with just two games remaining, leaving Chelsea, who will be without Jackson for the rest of their domestic campaign, looking over their shoulder.

Howe shuffled his pack to hand Botman a first start since February at the heart of a three-man defence with Jacob Murphy lining up at right wing-back in the absence of the injured Kieran Trippier, while Enzo Maresca named the same starting line-up for the third successive league game.

The Italian saw his team fall behind within two minutes of kick-off as the Magpies drew first blood.

Tonali robbed Romeo Lavia on the edge of the penalty area and the ball was fed across to Murphy on the right, and his cross was turned past keeper Robert Sanchez by the Italy international.

The Magpies continued to look the more threatening with Guimaraes sending a 13th-minute volley over after good work by Harvey Barnes down the right.

What a guy, what a player.

Maestro.