NEWCASTLE, England — Newcastle is one win away from a return to the Champions League.
The Saudi-controlled membership beat Brighton 4-1 on Thursday to strengthen its maintain on third place within the Premier League.
Three extra factors will assure Newcastle a top-four end and an automated spot within the Champions League, a contest the membership final performed in 20 years in the past. The crew’s remaining video games are at residence to next-to-last Leicester and away to Chelsea.
“It is still so far away,” mentioned Newcastle supervisor Eddie Howe, who hasn’t needed to speak about his crew’s Champions League probabilities.
“When it’s done,” he added, “I’ll talk about it for fun if you want.”
Brighton striker Deniz Undav had an eventful sport at St. James’ Park, glancing Kieran Trippier’s inswinging nook into his personal web to present Newcastle the lead within the twenty third minute.
PHOTOS: Newcastle beats Brighton 4-1, one win away from the Champions League
Trippier had a key function within the second aim, too, as he curled in a free kick that was nodded in by tall left again Dan Burn within the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Undav made amends for his own-goal – Brighton’s league-high sixth of the season – by working onto Billy Gilmour’s defense-splitting cross and changing a end to cut back the deficit within the 51st.
Callum Wilson ensured there was no approach again with a aim on the breakaway within the 89th and he arrange Bruno Guimaraes for a fourth two minutes later.
Wilson took his tally of league objectives this season to 18, placing him fifth within the scoring checklist. It is essentially the most by a Newcastle participant in a single season since 2003-04, when Alan Shearer scored 22 objectives.
The loss for sixth-place Brighton all however ended its top-four hopes, leaving Roberto De Zerbi’s crew to concentrate on ending in fifth or sixth place and entering into the Europa League.
Brighton was coming off a shocking 3-0 win at Arsenal on Sunday and nonetheless has three video games left to play because the crew catches up after plenty of mid-season postponements. De Zerbi rotated his lineup, dropping Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister to the bench, and expressed issues that his squad isn’t sturdy sufficient to deal with such fixture congestion.
“We have too many injuries and we have to think about this,” De Zerbi mentioned. “We are not in the best condition to play four games in 12 days and I had to think in a different way. I think in Newcastle’s stadium, we can lose the game.”
Newcastle’s gamers may need already accomplished sufficient to safe a spot within the Champions League qualification locations. Liverpool is 4 factors again in fifth place and the one crew that may cease them, however seemingly must beat Aston Villa and Southampton in its two remaining video games simply to face an opportunity.
Midfielder Joe Willock won’t be out there for Newcastle’s last video games after hobbling off with a suspected hamstring harm within the second half. Howe is already gentle on numbers in central midfield with Sean Longstaff at present out too.
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