Criminal Nicolas Jackson

In the match considered the "final" to win a ticket to the Champions League, Chelsea clearly showed their confusion against the pressing style of the home team Newcastle. Things turned bad for coach Enzo Maresca and his team, when the home team at St James' Park took the lead after Romeo Lavia lost the ball in the 2nd minute. Jacob Murphy rushed up the right wing, passed the ball just wide for Sandro Tonali to finish close range, defeating Robert Sanchez.

While the visitors were still unable to respond, Nicolas Jackson suddenly elbowed Sven Botman in the face, resulting in a red card in the 36th minute. The Senegalese striker's hot-tempered, irresponsible moment put the London representative in a difficult situation for the rest of the match. Jackson himself was also suspended for the rest of the season.

Jackson's red card left Chelsea with no chance of turning the game around.

With 10 men on the pitch, Chelsea pressed forward in vain. Cole Palmer could not make a difference against the home side's dense defence, while Pedro Neto's individual efforts could not trouble Nick Pope. The only time the England goalkeeper had to work hard was in the 62nd minute, when he dived to block Marc Cucurella's powerful cross-angle shot.

Newcastle played submissively and only needed one chance in the 90+1 minute to end Chelsea's hopes of getting a point. Bruno Guimaraes fired a shot from outside the box that hit a player in blue and changed direction into the net, leaving Sanchez helpless.

The disastrous defeat caused Chelsea to drop to 5th place with 63 points. Coach Maresca's team is only ahead of Aston Villa, the team in 6th place, on goal difference (+19 compared to +7). On the other hand, Newcastle rose to 3rd place and is on the verge of a historic season when it has won both the title (League Cup) and a ticket to the Champions League.

The race for the Premier League top 5 is still very tense. In the last 2 rounds, Newcastle will meet Everton and Arsenal, while Chelsea will also face 2 tough opponents, MU and Nottingham. Any mistake can make the Champions League dream of Chelsea, Newcastle or Nottingham go up in smoke.