Defeat for Ipswich confirms their relegation
Newcastle United 3 - 0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed after Newcastle United boosted their push for Champions League qualification with a comfortable victory.
Ipswich needed to beat Newcastle and rely on West Ham losing at Brighton to delay their drop into the Championship. Those slim hopes were badly damaged late in the first half when Ben Johnson was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Bruno Guimarães had a close-range effort ruled out midway through the half for a foul on goalkeeper Alex Palmer, but Alexander Isak finally broke Ipswich’s resistance deep into first-half stoppage time, converting a penalty after referee Michael Salisbury consulted the pitchside monitor.
Newcastle dominated the second half. Dan Burn, who scored in last month's Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool, headed in a second goal from Kieran Trippier’s looping cross ten minutes after the restart.
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Substitute Will Osula added a third with a header, marking his first Premier League goal, as Newcastle celebrated the return of head coach Eddie Howe following a three-match absence through pneumonia. The win lifts Newcastle to third in the table.
Ipswich’s defeat means that, for the first time in Premier League history, all relegations have been confirmed with as many as four games remaining.
Ipswich fate finally sealed
For Kieran McKenna's team, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. The Ipswich manager had admitted relegation was likely after watching his team lose 2-1 at home to Wolves earlier this month. This was a defeat which left them 12 points adrift of safety with seven matches remaining.
They have since lost further ground on the teams above them in the weeks, with this defeat sealing the Tractor Boys' fate with four games left.
William, an Ipswich Town season ticket holder who was in the away end yesterday, told us: "We can start planning for next season. I think we're in a decent position, compared to the other sides that have been relegated, and stand a decent chance of fighting at the top end of the Championship next season."
