Newcastle United kept their European hopes alive as they ended the 2023-2024 Premier League season with a thrilling 4-2 victory at Brentford.
The Magpies will qualify for the Europa Conference League if Manchester City beat cross-city rivals Manchester United in Saturday's FA Cup final.
After a positive start from Brentford, the visitors took the lead on 21 minutes through Harvey Barnes' header, and their advantage was soon doubled through Jacob Murphy.
Alexander Isak slotted beyond the goalkeeper to make it 3-0 before half-time, but the hosts responded after the interval thanks to goals from Vitaly Janelt and Yoane Wissa.
Bruno Guimaraes got Newcastle's fourth in the 78th minute to ensure the Geordies claimed the three points as they end the season in seventh place, whilst Brentford finish in 16th.
The Bees thought they had made the perfect start inside two minutes but after a VAR check Ivan Toney’s effort was ruled out by referee Simon Hooper for offside.
Toney continued to search for a goal against his former club but was denied by the outstretched leg of Nick Pope.
It was Newcastle, though, who should have taken the lead before the 10-minute mark as Isak set up an unmarked Joelinton from close range, but the Brazilian failed to convert.
The visitors then broke the deadlock on 21 minutes, with Barnes darting into the six-yard box to meet a delightful delivery by Guimaraes and head the visitors ahead.
Sean Longstaff thought he had quickly doubled their advantage, only to be flagged offside, but Murphy was not denied when he latched onto Isak's exquisite pass across the penalty area to make it 2-0.
Just two minutes later, Isak grabbed his 21st goal of the season when he fired past Mark Flekken.
The Brentford stopper ensured Isak did not extend Newcastle's advantage further with a smart stop to deny the Swedish international before half-time.
The home side responded after the interval and Janelt reduced the deficit, striking home after being picked out by Wissa.
Pope clawed away Toney’s header before Wissa curled a superb effort past the goalkeeper to set up a tense finale for the visitors.
The nerves, though, were soon settled when Guimaraes followed up a free-kick to ensure the points returned to Tyneside.
Brentford's home defence breached
Brentford end the season comfortably above the bottom three, after arguably their toughest campaign yet in the Premier League, having contended with key players and the talk of a potential relegation battle at the turn of the year.
The Bees could not finish on a high - instead they looked beaten before the half-time whistle, although they scored twice in the second half to test Newcastle's resolve.
Going into the match with a recent impressive home record, including having kept a clean sheet in the past three, Newcastle's attacking capabilities were too much for the hosts to handle.
It means Thomas Frank will have to wait to earn his 100th win in charge of the club, whilst Toney ends the season having not scored in his past 12 league games. However, Mathias Jensen did become the third Brentford player to reach 100 Premier League appearances.
Toon await news of European qualification
It has been an entertaining season for Newcastle, with more than 80 goals scored and over 60 goals conceded.
And the entertainment continued here. After being relieved that Toney's early goal was chalked off for offside, the Toon established a three-goal lead at the break mainly thanks to the individual brilliance of Isak.
It was a rare win on their travels for Eddie Howe’s side, whose patchy away form has proved costly in their quest to earn a top-six finish, with St James' Park providing the majority of their points.
The Magpies will now have a close eye on next weekend's FA Cup final between Manchester rivals United and City.
Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa: Kaneryd hands Bompastor first win
Johanna Rytting Kaneryd's first-half goal was enough to secure Chelsea a 1-0 win over Aston Villa, getting Sonia Bompastor off to a winning start in the Women's Super League.
In a tightly contested tie that could have gone either way, the reigning champions showed their quality to earn the first three points of the WSL season.
Missy Bo Kearns almost got the first goal of Robert de Pauw's reign at Villa 13 minutes in, but was narrowly wide of netting on her debut, while Guro Reiten narrowly missed two glorious chances for the hosts.
Kaneryd scored the winner in the 36th minute – it looked like she had overrun the ball, but she expertly cut back inside to whip a lovely shot past Sabrina D'Angelo into the back of the net.
Villa made a lightning-quick start to the second half, with Kenza Dali's early cross being met by Rachel Daly, but her looping header only rattled Hannah Hampton's crossbar.
The visitors then had two brilliant opportunities to level the score in stoppage time, but Hampton superbly defended her clean sheet, first denying Daly before tipping D'Angelo's header onto the crossbar.
Data Debrief: Off to a flyer
Chelsea's game against Aston Villa is the first time they have played a game in the WSL without Emma Hayes in the dugout since July 2012 (a 4-2 loss under Matt Beard).
Bompastor ensured the reigning champions got off to a winning start though, maintaining their 100% record against Villa by stretching their run to nine wins in a row.
In the opposite dugout, though De Pauw is still waiting for his first win and goal in charge of the Villans, he did get a small slice of history, becoming the first Dutch manager to manage a game in the WSL.
Real Salt Lake v Portland Timbers: Neville backs 'MVP level' Evander for more success
Phil Neville heaped praise on Portland Timbers' star man Evander and has urged him to bring his fighting spirit to their clash with Real Salt Lake on Saturday.
The Timbers have lost just one of their last four MLS matches, though that did come in their last road match against Colorado Rapids.
They sit eighth in the Western Conference after beating leaders LA Galaxy 4-2 in midweek.
Evander was the star of that game, and Neville is hoping he can make a similar impact when they travel to Salt Lake.
"In Evander, we've got someone playing to an MVP level," Neville said.
"I said it from probably the first month of the season that he's the best number 10 in the league and people laughed at me, but what I've seen is someone who is an incredible footballer with an incredible talent.
"We're proud to have him in our organisation. He's fighting like mad for the team."
Meanwhile, RSL are up to second in the table following their midweek win over FC Dallas.
They have alternated between a win and a loss since the MLS restarted after the Leagues Cup, and head coach Pablo Mastroeni is wary of the threat they will face from Portland.
"I think if there's an early goal it will open a little bit, but Portland defend really well as a team and their front four are some of the best in the league," he told KSL Sports.
"The onus is on us to be defensively tight, compact, to not allow easy chances for these guys. More important for us is to take advantage of our opportunities.
"We need to finetune that defensive mentality because games are getting tighter, so for us, it's about doing everything really good."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Real Salt Lake – Anderson Julio
Anderson Julio notched his second brace of the season in Real Salt Lake's win over FC Dallas.
Julio is the third RSL player with multiple games with 2+ goals in 2024 (Cristian Arango – five, Andres Gomez – four), making this season the first time the club has had three different players with 2+ multi-goal games.
Portland Timbers – Evander
Evander had two goals and an assist on Wednesday to move his regular season totals for 2024 to 14 goals and 17 assists.
This is the 23rd time an MLS player has had 17 or more assists in a single regular season with Evander's 14 goals being the most during any of those (next-most, 12 by Preki in 1997 & 2003).
MATCH PREDICTION: REAL SALT LAKE WIN
Salt Lake have hit the 50-point mark for the second consecutive season after reaching the milestone just once in the previous seven full seasons (2015-22). This is the second time RSL have recorded 50 points in consecutive seasons, also doing so in five straight years from 2010-14.
However, they have often struggled against Portland, who have lost only two of their last 14 regular season meetings with Salt Lake (W9 D3) dating back to the start of the 2017 season. Only Los Angeles FC (11) has more wins over RSL in that time.
Portland have won only two of their last 14 road matches in all competitions though (D3 L9), including losing the last four away from home. Seven of the nine defeats in that time have been by one-goal margins.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Real Salt Lake – 45.6%
Draw – 26.8%
Portland Timbers – 27.6%
CF Montreal v Chicago Fire: Klopas aiming for improvements away from home
Chicago Fire head coach Frank Klopas was left to rue missed opportunities in their 1-0 defeat to Nashville SC in their last MLS encounter.
The Fire travel to face an in-form CF Montreal side at the Stade Saputo this weekend, a ground they have found relative success at over the past couple of seasons.
Klopas’ side currently occupy 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings but are four points from the playoffs.
Sam Surridge’s only goal compounded Chicago to a 15th loss of the season, and Klopas explained how his side’s lacklustre approach cost them in midweek.
“They scored the goal, but we still had a whole second half where we dominated the ball, but the speed of play had to be better,” said Klopas.
“When you have 10 guys behind the ball you have to move the ball quicker. They needed to do it in those moments, and we needed to get crosses in but we didn’t.
“It’s always difficult on the road but look who the first goal came. I think we could have done better all round as a team. We had our moments but didn’t take advantage of them.”
Montreal, meanwhile, came from two goals down to salvage a point in their 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution last time out, leaving them a place ahead of this weekend’s opponents.
One of Montreal’s scorers was new arrival Tom Pearce after making the move to the MLS in July from League One side Wigan Athletic.
The 26-year-old’s first career goal in the division saw him become the first player from the United Kingdom to score a regular season goal in MLS for Montreal.
And Pearce believes that despite Montreal being two points behind the playoffs, they can make it to the right side of the line in the final five games of the campaign.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn't in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point," Pearce said.
"We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game.
"Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
CF Montreal – Josef Martinez
After returning from a knee injury with three goals in his last 10 appearances, Martinez will be keen to strike against a side he has enjoyed recent fixtures against.
The Venezuelan has eight goal contributions (six goals and two assists) against the Fire, a total he has only bettered against four other sides in the MLS.
Chicago Fire – Tobias Salquist
Salquist completed 104 passes in the Fire’s defeat at Nashville SC, the second-most by a Fire player in an MLS match since Opta began detailed data collection of the league in 2010 (Bastian Schweinsteiger – 117 vs. Orlando City in June 2017).
MATCH PREDICTION: CF MONTREAL WIN
Montreal has lost only two of their last 11 home matches in all competitions (W5 D4), including winning three of the last five. Montreal have not won consecutive home matches in a single season since an eight-match home winning streak from April to June last year.
Chicago was held scoreless in their loss to Nashville, the Fire’s ninth time being shutout in an MLS game this season. The only team to be held without a goal in more MLS matches in 2024 is the Coyotes (10).
However, the Fire have lost only two of their 14 all-time visits to Montreal (W9 D3), including winning four of the last five trips. Chicago have not lost in Montreal since a 1-0 defeat in 2017.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
CF Montreal – 45.9%
Draw – 26.7%
Chicago Fire – 27.4%
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