Jackson received a red card for his brain snap. At the same time, he reduced Chelsea's chances of scoring in the extremely important top meeting with Newcastle in Premier League football.
Instead, Alexander Isak (from the start) and Emil Krafth (substituted in the 64th minute) took a major step towards playing in the most sports-wise significant and economically most profitable tournament.
Sandro Tonali scored 1-0 already before the match was two minutes gone at St James' Park. Bruno Guimaraes scored, via a touch, 2-0 in stoppage time and Newcastle is third in the table on 66 points, three more than Chelsea.
Got a brain snap
Chelsea still has the opportunity to snatch a spot in the Champions League, but then likely victories in the remaining matches against Manchester United and Nottingham are required.
They will be played without Nicolas Jackson.
The elbow he put in Sven Botman's face in the 34th minute initially gave a yellow card, but the VAR referees wanted the referee John Brooks to take a closer look at the situation.
Brooks did, annulled the yellow card and pulled out the red one – and with the suspension waiting, Jackson has played out the season.
Hot battle
Despite being decimated and with almost an hour left of the match, Chelsea created a number of equalizing chances before Bruno Guimaraes killed the match.
The battle for the four spots in the Champions League behind already clear Liverpool will be decided between six clubs – and will likely be decided only in the final round on May 25th.
Nottingham had the chance to slip past both Aston Villa and Chelsea, had to settle for 2-2 against already relegated Leicester and lies seventh.
A team that lies much better in the battle for Champions League play next season is Arsenal. The table second-placed team got 2-2 in the series final against Liverpool, despite Mikel Merino being shown out in the second half.
The London team only needs two points to secure their spot in football's top room next season.
