An early goal from Sandro Tonali and a late Bruno Guimaraes 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 Nicholas 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 Guimares 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.
West Ham celebrate first league win at Old Trafford since 2007
West Ham United won a Premier League game at Old Trafford for the first time in 18 years with a 2-0 victory over Europa League finalists Manchester United on Sunday thanks to goals in each half from Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen.
In a battle between two of this season’s league stragglers, the Hammers climbed over the home side into 15th in the table on 40 points with two games remaining, while the Red Devils fell to 16th with 39 points.
Soucek put West Ham on the score sheet in the 26th minute after some beautiful passing up the left before Mohammed Kudus passed across the goalmouth and Soucek was there to knock it in. Bowen doubled the Hammers’ lead in the 57th minute when Kudus drove forward and his shot deflected into the path of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who squared the ball for Bowen to tap in.
While Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has said the May 21 Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur — with the victors qualifying for the Champions League — is the team’s focus, Sunday’s ugly loss was a big blow in their build-up for that game in Bilbao, Spain.
Eze double gives Palace victory at ailing Tottenham
Eberechi Eze scored on either side of halftime to give Crystal Palace a 2-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and condemn the hosts to their 20th Premier League defeat of the season.
After a dominant display in the first half and two disallowed goals, Palace finally broke the deadlock just before halftime when winger Daniel Munoz bombed down the right flank and squared the ball to Eze for a tap in.
Three minutes after the interval Tottenham were rocked by another sweeping attack as Eze ghosted into the box and calmly slotted home Ismaila Sarr’s pass to net his seventh league goal of the season.
Palace remained in 12th place with 49 points from 36 games after their first league win since April, while Tottenham drop down into 17th place after West Ham United beat Manchester United.
Forest’s Champions League hopes hit by draw with Leicester
Nottingham Forest’s hopes of securing a Champions League spot took a massive hit when they were held to a 2-2 draw by relegated Leicester City on Sunday, as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side fell to seventh in the Premier League standings.
Forest started the game slowly and Leicester went 1-0 up when Conor Coady reacted quickly to score from a rebound, but their lead lasted only nine minutes when Morgan Gibbs-White equalised with a towering header from a free kick.
Forest stepped on the gas after the restart and Chris Wood gave them the lead with his 20th league goal of the season when he connected with a header at the far post to make it 2-1.
But Jamie Vardy set up Facundo Buonanotte for a late equaliser and Forest could not find a winner, leaving the home side a point behind fifth-placed Chelsea. Leicester remain 19th, behind Ipswich Town on goal difference.
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