Why did Nicolas Jackson get a red card against Newcastle United?
Chelsea suffered a major blow in their crucial Premier League clash against Newcastle United at St. James Park on 11 May 2025, because of a Nicolas Jackson red card. The Magpies had taken control of the game from the get-go in front of their fans and were even able to take the lead in the second minute itself through Sandro Tonali.
This caused Chelsea to start intensifying their playing style to equalize or get back into the game in the first half itself. However, Nicolas Jackson made things really tough in the first half after a moment of madness on the pitch. Here we look into the details of Nicolas Jackson red card against Newcastle United.
Nicolas Jackson Red Card
Jackson was desperate to get amongst the goals for his side and seemingly didn’t like the opposition defenders trying to harass him on the pitch. He was involved in a bit of an embarrassing moment late in the first half. The Nicolas Jackson red card happened in the 35th minute, at a point when Chelsea were trying to get back into the game.
Robert Sanchez had flung a long ball into the Newcastle United half, and Jackson got involved in a duel with defender Sven Botman. To try and get the Dutch centre-back off him, Jackson flung his elbow into the face of the defender to cause him quite a bit of damage. The referee, John Brooks, initially thought of it as worthy of a yellow card and showed the same to the Cameroonian forward.
However, the VAR team urged him to have a closer look at the incident in the VAR monitor. Brooks would go on to realize that it was a deliberate elbow from Jackson, and forced him to show Nicolas a red card to frustrate the forward. This is the first time that Jackson has been shown a red card in the 2024/25 season, having accumulated 7 yellow cards before it in the Premier League.
This will have a major impact on Chelsea’s end-of-season plans as they look into securing a finish in the Premier League top 5 and qualify for the UEFA Champions League. That is because of a Nicolas Jackson ban looming over the forward. As he was shown a direct red card, Jackson is going to be banned for the next two games and is out for the remainder of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
The Nicolas Jackson ban will lead to repercussions for the Blues because of a lack of quality options in the centre-forward position. Christopher Nkunku is currently sidelined with an injury, while Marc Guiu is still recovering from a knock. The Blues might be forced to play someone like Pedro Neto in the centre-forward role for their next few Premier League games because of the Nicolas Jackson red card.
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