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 now a point 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.
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, 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.
Eberechi Eze scored on either side of halftime to give Crystal Palace a 2-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur 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.
