Newcastle United will spend another season playing Premier League football after they defeated already relegated Queens Park Rangers 2-1 on Sunday. Because Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic play each other on the final day, it is impossible for both of them to reach Newcastle's 41 points, keeping the Magpies in the top flight.
Queens Park Rangers vs. Newcastle United: Final score 1-2, Magpies stay up
They faced a rocky road to victory, but Newcastle have secured their Premier League future with a victory.
Things got off to a horrible start for Newcastle, however, as they gave away an early penalty forcing them to come from behind. Mathieu Debuchy took down Junior Hoilett in the box in the 10th minute, and Loic Remy finished from the spot to put Rangers ahead. Jose Bosingwa gave the goal right back six minutes later in similar fashion, pulling on the shirt of Hatem Ben Arfa in the penalty area. The Frenchman stepped up and buried his penalty to level the match.
A comedy of errors, again involving Bosingwa, led to the eventual winner. He played a terrible back pass to Robert Green, putting the Rangers keeper in an awful spot. He had a chance to clear, though, and did nothing with it, kicking the ball right into the path of Yoan Gouffran. His finish wasn't an easy one, but he hit a 25-yard half-volley into the empty net.
The second half was highly uneventful until the 82nd minute, when Newcastle goalkeeper Robert Elliott was shown a second yellow card for handling the ball outside the box. Thankfully for Newcastle, they had not yet used all of their substitutions and were able to bring third string keeper Steve Harper on to replace Ben Arfa.
QPR struggled to create chances, but almost found a winner in stoppage time when Andros Townsend curled a wicked shot from 25 yards that went over the bar by less than a foot. Their desperate late attempts to score came up short, and Newcastle held on for three crucial points.
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