Ipswich Town’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed as Newcastle strengthened their push for Champions League football with victory at St James’ Park.
Ipswich needed to beat the Newcastle and hope West Ham lost at Brighton to delay their inevitable fall into the Championship, but their hopes of getting the result they needed were dealt a major blow late in the first half when Ben Johnson was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Bruno Guimaraes had had a close-range effort disallowed midway through the half for a foul on goalkeeper Alex Palmer, but Alexander Isak’s penalty – awarded following a pitchside review by referee Michael Salisbury – finally broke Ipswich’s crumbling resistance deep into added time.
It was one-way traffic in the second period and Dan Burn, one of Newcastle’s goalscorers in last month’s Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool, doubled their advantage 10 minutes after the restart with a point-blank header from Kieran Trippier’s looping cross.
Second-half substitute Will Osula headed home his first Premier league goal with 10 minutes remaining as the Magpies marked the return of head coach Eddie Howe – who had missed the previous three games with pneumonia – with a resounding win which lifts them up to third in the table.
Ipswich’s defeat means this is the first time in Premier League history that all relegations have been confirmed with as many as four games remaining.
