Chelsea’s Champions League hopes suffered a setback with a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Sunday.
Both sides started the encounter levelled on point in the race for Champions League qualification but Newcastle United further enhanced their chances of returning to the competition with a deserved win.
The hosts took the lead in the second minute Sandro Tonali’s close-range finish that stunned Maresca’s team.
Chelsea struggled to find their rhythm in the opening moments of the game before their day went from bad to worse when Nicolas Jackson was sent off in the 35th for elbowing Sven Botman.
The visitors improved in the second half with Nick Pope denying Marc Cucurella, and Enzo Fernandez from scoring.
Bruno Guimaraes put the icing on the cake in the 90th minute when his effort deflected off Malo Gusto to make it 2-0.
Newcastle United held on to seal a vital victory which moved them up to third three points clear of third-placed Chelsea ahead of the last two matches of the season.
Chelsea coach, Enzo Maresca was disappointed with the defeat.
He said: “Difficult. It’s already difficult 11-v-11 in this stadium, against this team. Playing one hour with 10 players has not been easy. I think the second half the team showed spirit, togetherness.
“We have a good run but my message was always the same to the players. The game is gone and finished. Think about the next one. Now today’s game is finished we need to be focused on Friday’s game. That is the next one.”
Newcastle United coach, Eddie Howe described the win as massive ahead of their last two games of the season.
He said: “Yeah, a massive win for us. And we knew that, of course, before the game. We knew the opponents are so tight, that will put us in a stronger position, but it’s still very tight and two games to keep our focus and to try and get as many points as we can.
“I think it was one of those games that I was always probably going to because of what was at stake, the scoreline, the psychology of both teams and the fact they had nothing to lose in the second half.
“They played very well, I have to say Chelsea and you can see the quality and level of their players that they have. But they had nothing to lose and we had everything to lose and as much as we wanted to attack and the intention was to attack and to control the game, we played quite safe and ultimately that led to losing control of the game.
Newcastle United picked up their 20th Premier League win of the season, the first time they have won 20+ games in a single season in the competition since 2002-03 (21), which was the last time they finished in the top three of the division.
Up next for Chelsea is a home clash against Manchester United on Friday while Newcastle United will take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
