Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes moved Newcastle one step closer to Champions League qualification as Chelsea, playing with ten men, suffered heavy losses against the Tyneside side.
Tonali's second-minute strike and Bruno's equaliser secured a 2-0 win at St James' Park, with the visitors forced to play 55 minutes with ten men after striker Nicholas Jackson was sent off for an elbow on Sven Botman.
In fact, the Blues took their chances better, picking up 10 points instead of 11, and it took some superb second-half saves from Nick Pope to prevent goals from Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandes that could have proved costly.
The result has left Eddie Howe's side back in third place with two games to go, leaving Chelsea, who will be without Jackson for the remainder of the domestic campaign, looking back.
Howe changed his line-up to start Botman at centre-back for the first time since February, with Jacob Murphy taking over at right-back in the absence of the injured Kieran Trippier, while Enzo Maresca kept the same starting XI for a third successive league game.
The Italian saw his side concede just two minutes into the game when the Magpies opened the scoring.
Tonali robbed Romeo Lavia on the edge of the area, the ball was passed to Murphy on the right and his cross was saved by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, preventing the Italy international from scoring.
The Magpies continued to look more threatening when Guimarães headed home after 13 minutes following some fine work from Harvey Barnes down the right.
However, goalkeeper Nick Pope was pleased to see Cole Palmer's effort bounce wide after the first attempt was blocked and with Lavia and Jackson taking control of the game the visitors picked up the pace.
But 12 minutes before the break their task became more difficult when Jackson lashed out with an elbow while trying to stop Botman catching a high ball.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
