Newcastle capitalised on the Premier League’s top five teams all failing to win over weekend as the race for European football intensifies.

Just six points separate Chelsea in fourth and ninth-placed Brighton, while Nottingham Forest in third are only four points ahead of the Blues.

Manchester City and Chelsea both missed the chance to boost their hopes of Champions League qualification after being held to goalless draws on Sunday.

City were unable to get past Manchester United at Old Trafford while Chelsea’s poor away form continued against Brentford.

On Saturday, Aston Villa improved their Champions League qualification chances with a hard-fought victory over third-placed Forest.

The win put Villa just one point behind City and two behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

Carabao Cup winners Newcastle – who still have a game in hand on Chelsea, City and Villa – climbed to fifth and went level on points with Chelsea with victory over struggling Leicester City on Monday.

Eddie Howe’s side have won 11 of their past 15 Premier League games, with only Liverpool (38) picking up more points in that time than the Magpies’ 33.

Villa have now won their past seven matches in all competitions – the first time they have done so since 2019 – and head into Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against newly crowned Ligue 1 champions Paris St-Germain with the wind in their sails.

As for Forest, they remain on the brink of a first European campaign despite suffering an eighth league defeat of the campaign at Villa Park.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Brighton’s hopes of securing continental football took a hit as they lost 2-1 at rivals Crystal Palace, while Bournemouth are winless in their past six games after drawing 2-2 at West Ham.