Newcastle and Chelsea win to boost top-five hopes in Premier League as Ipswich relegated

Newcastle and Chelsea picked up victories in the Premier League to move into the Champions League qualification positions as Ipswich became the third and final team to be relegated on Saturday.

On the day Newcastle manager Eddie Howe returned to the dugout after recovering from pneumonia, his team's 3-0 win over Ipswich at St. James' Park was significant at both ends of the standings.

Newcastle jumped into third place in the congested race to finish in the top five and secure a spot in next season's Champions League. Meanwhile, Ipswich's return to the Championship was confirmed, with the team partly owned by pop star Ed Sheeran joining Southampton and Leicester back in the second tier.

It's the second straight season that the three promoted clubs have gone straight back down.

“It’s been a massive challenge,” said Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna, who led the team into the Premier League and back-to-back promotions from the third tier. "Many things we have done positively that will set us up well for the years ahead (and) there’s been some things we could have done better and things we will learn from.”

Howe has already guided Newcastle to the English League Cup title this season for the club's first major trophy in 70 years. He said his team's remaining four league matches feel like cup finals, too.

“You’re ticking down,” he said. “We have put ourselves back into a strong position but we know it can change quickly.”

Chelsea climbed into fifth place, two points behind Newcastle and one behind Manchester City, by beating Everton 1-0 thanks to Nicolas Jackson’s first-half goal. That sealed back-to-back wins for Chelsea.

Just five points separate Newcastle and seventh-placed Aston Villa, which wasn't in action in the Premier League on Saturday.

Instead, Villa was losing to Crystal Palace 3-0 at Wembley Stadium in the first FA Cup semifinal.

Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr (two) were the scorers for Palace, which reached the final for a third time in its bid for the first major trophy in the south London club's history. It lost to Manchester United on both previous occasions, in 1990 and 2016.

Jamie Vardy began his long goodbye to Leicester, after confirming on Thursday he'd be leaving at the end of the season, by having a penalty saved in a 3-0 loss at Wolverhampton.

“That was so unfortunate," Leicester manager Ruud van Nistelrooy said. “I really wanted him to score to get us back in the game but also for himself.”

Brazil striker Matheus Cunha, linked heavily with a summer move to Manchester United, scored one and set up two in Wolves' sixth straight win that has seen the team power clear of relegation danger.

“It shows he is committed with us, with his teammates, with everyone,” Wolves manager Vitor Pereira said of Cunha.

Van Nistelrooy said he was unaware about his own future after falling to keep Leicester up.

“It is a matter of being patient and waiting," the Dutchman said.

Last-placed Southampton conceded in stoppage time to lose at home to Fulham 2-1 and stay on 11 points — tied for the lowest ever tally for a single season in the Premier League, set by Derby County in the 2007-08 season.

Brighton scored in the 89th minute and again in stoppage time to secure a 3-2 win over West Ham, whose winless run extended to seven games under recently hired manager Graham Potter — formerly of Brighton.

West Ham's Premier League status was guaranteed because of Ipswich's relegation but Potter accepted that being one place above the bottom three was not good enough.

“We have to acknowledge the season we are having is a bad one," he said. “The fact we have stayed clear is good but not good enough.”

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha celebrates after scoring their side's first goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, England, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Brighton and Hove Albion's Carlos Baleba, center, celebrates scoring during the English Premier League soccer match between Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United at the American Express Stadium, Brighton, England, Saturday April 26, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha celebrates scoring their side's fourth goal of the game with team-mates during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton and Tottenham Hotspur at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Leicester City's Jamie Vardy misses a penalty during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, England, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)

Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna applauds the fans following the English Premier League soccer match between Ipswich Town and Arsenal at Portman Road, Ipswich, England, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Dan Burn, 33, scores during the English Premier League soccer match between Newcastle United and Ipswich Town at St James' Park, Newcastle, England, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Alexander Isak, right, celebrates scoring with teammates during the English Premier League soccer match between Newcastle United and Ipswich Town at St James' Park, Newcastle, England, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Newcastle United's Alexander Isak celebrates scoring during the English Premier League soccer match between Newcastle United and Ipswich Town at St James' Park, Newcastle, England, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)

Everton's Idrissa Gueye, left, and Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez battle for the ball during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge, London, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson, left, celebrates with Noni Madueke after scoring his side's first goal of the game during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Everton at Stamford Bridge, London, Saturday April 26, 2025. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

Iran eased some restrictions on its people and, for the first time in days, allowed them to make phone calls abroad via their mobile phones on Tuesday. It did not ease restrictions on the internet or permit texting services to be restored as the death toll from days of bloody protests against the state rose to at least 2,000 people, according to activists.

Although Iranians were able to call abroad, people outside the country could not call them, several people in the capital told The Associated Press.

The witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said SMS text messaging still was down and internet users inside Iran could not access anything abroad, although there were local connections to government-approved websites.

It was unclear if restrictions would ease further after authorities cut off all communications inside the country and to the outside world late Thursday.

Here is the latest:

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years, gave the latest death toll on Tuesday.

It said 1,847 of the dead were protesters and 135 were government-affiliated.

This came a day after the European Parliament announced it would ban Iranian diplomats and representatives.

“Iran does not seek enmity with the EU, but will reciprocate any restriction,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X on Tuesday.

He also criticized the European Parliament for not taking any significant action against Israel for the more than two-year war in Gaza that has killed more than 71,400 Palestinians, while banning Iranian diplomats after just “a few days of violent riots.”

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said he summoned Iran’s ambassador to the Netherlands “to formally protest the excessive violence against peaceful protesters, large-scale arbitrary arrests, and internet shutdowns, calling for immediate restoration of internet access inside the Islamic Republic.

In a post on X, Weel also said the Dutch government supports EU sanctions against “human rights violators in Iran.”

The United Nations human rights chief is calling on Iranian authorities to immediately halt violence and repression against peaceful protesters, citing reports of hundreds killed and thousands arrested in a wave of demonstrations in recent weeks.

“The killing of peaceful demonstrators must stop, and the labelling of protesters as ‘terrorists’ to justify violence against them is unacceptable,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday.

Alluding to a wave of protests in Iran in 2022, Türk said demonstrators have sought “fundamental changes” to governance in the country, “and once again, the authorities’ reaction is to inflict brutal force to repress legitimate demands for change.”

“This cycle of horrific violence cannot continue,” he added.

It was also “extremely worrying” to hear some public statements from judicial officials mentioning the prospect of the use of the death penalty against protesters through expedited judicial proceedings, Türk said.

“Iranians have the right to demonstrate peacefully. Their grievances need to be heard and addressed, and not instrumentalized by anyone,” Türk said.

Finland’s foreign minister says she is summoning the Iranian ambassador after authorities in Tehran restricted internet access.

“Iran’s regime has shut down the internet to be able to kill and oppress in silence," Elina Valtonen wrote in a social media post Tuesday, adding, “this will not be tolerated. We stand with the people of Iran — women and men alike.”

Finland is “exploring measures to help restore freedom to the Iranian people” together with the European Union, Valtonen said.

Separately, Finnish police said they believe at least two people entered the courtyard of the Iranian embassy in Helsinki without permission Monday afternoon and tore down the Iranian flag. The embassy’s outer wall was also daubed with paint.

Iranian security forces arrested what a state television report described as terrorist groups linked to Israel in the southeastern city of Zahedan.

The report, without providing additional details, said the group entered through Iran’s eastern borders and carried U.S.-made guns and explosives that the group had planned to use in assassinations and acts of sabotage.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the allegations.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate hailed people who have “long warned about this repression, at great personal risk.”

“The protests in Iran cannot be separated from the long-standing, state-imposed restrictions on girls’ and women’s autonomy, in all aspects of public life including education. Iranian girls, like girls everywhere, demand a life with dignity,” Yousafzai wrote on X.

“(Iran’s) future must be driven by the Iranian people, and include the leadership of Iranian women and girls — not external forces or oppressive regimes,” she added.

Yousafzai was awarded the peace prize in 2014 at the age of 17 for her fight for girls’ education in her home country, Pakistan. She is the youngest Nobel laureate.

The French Foreign Ministry said it has “reconfigured” its embassy in Tehran after reports that the facility's nonessential staff left Iran earlier this week.

The embassy's nonessential staff left the country Sunday and Monday, French news agency Agence France-Presse reported.

The ambassador remained on site and the embassy continued to function, the ministry said late Monday night.

Associated Press writer Angela Charlton contributed from Paris.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believes the Iranian government is in its “final days and weeks,” as he renewed a call for Iranian authorities to end violence against demonstrators immediately.

“If a regime can only keep itself in power by force, then it’s effectively at the end,” Merz said Tuesday during a visit to Bengaluru, India. “I believe we are now seeing the final days and weeks of this regime. In any case, it has no legitimacy through elections in the population. The population is now rising up against this regime.”

Merz said he hoped there is “a possibility to end this conflict peacefully," adding that Germany is in close contact with the U.S. and European governments.

The Israeli military said it continues to be “on alert for surprise scenarios” due to the ongoing protests in Iran, but has not made any changes to guidelines for civilians, as it does prior to a concrete threat.

“The protests in Iran are an internal matter,” Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin wrote on X.

Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear program over the summer, resulting in a 12-day war that killed nearly 1,200 Iranians and almost 30 Israelis. Over the past week, Iran has threatened to attack Israel if Israel or the U.S. attacks.

Mobile phones in Iran were able to call abroad Tuesday after a crackdown on nationwide protests in which the internet and international calls were cut. Several people in Tehran were able to call The Associated Press.

The AP bureau in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was unable to call those numbers back.

Witnesses said the internet remained cut off from the outside world. Iran cut off the internet and calls on Thursday as protests intensified.

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdownon the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from videos taken between Jan. 9 and Jan. 11, 2026, and circulating on social media purportedly shows images from a morgue with dozens of bodies and mourners after crackdown on the outskirts of Iran's capital, in Kahrizak, Tehran Province. (UGC via AP)

Protesters hold up placards and flags as they demonstrate outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Shiite Muslims hold placards and chant slogans during a protest against the U.S. and show solidarity with Iran in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Activists carrying a photograph of Reza Pahlavi take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

People attend a rally in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

A picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set alight by protesters outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)