Newcastle has plunged into its most challenging period since the club was bought by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
A 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth on Saturday was a third straight defeat in the Premier League for Newcastle, which is languishing in 14th place in the 20-team top flight with five games remaining of the campaign. The team received boos at full time.
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It leaves Newcastle manager Eddie Howe — hired in November 2021, weeks after the takeover by Saudi's Public Investment Fund — under increasing pressure, with the club not giving any assurances he'll be in charge beyond this season.
Indeed, these are tough times for PIF, which in recent years has spent heavily investing on sporting projects such as LIV Golf and funding the biggest soccer teams in Saudi Arabia.
This week, PIF sold its majority stake in the kingdom’s most successful club, Al-Hilal, and there was also huge speculation about whether the fund was on the brink of cutting its financial backing of LIV. LIV's 2026 season is going ahead as scheduled, its chief executive said, but the situation beyond that remains cloudy.
At St. James' Park, Adrien Truffert broke a tie in the 85th minute with his first Premier League goal to win the game for eighth-place Bournemouth, which is unbeaten in 13 straight league matches — including six wins.
Marcus Tavernier turned in Rayan’s cross across the goalmouth in the 32nd minute to put the Cherries ahead. Will Osula equalized in the 68th minute after an initial offside call was overturned in a video review.
Newcastle captain Bruno Guimarães entered in the 62nd minute after recovering from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him since Feb. 10.
Wolves on the brink of relegation
Wolverhampton lost 3-0 at Leeds and will be relegated if third-to-last Tottenham beats Brighton later Saturday.
Wolves, who have just 17 points from 33 games, have been in the Premier League for the past eight seasons.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted a stoppage-time penalty to round off the win after early goals by James Justin — with a bicycle kick — and Noah Okafor.
Leeds moved nine points clear of the relegation zone.
Brentford's fifth straight draw
Brentford failed to boost its unlikely Champions League qualification hopes by drawing a fifth straight game in the Premier League, this time 0-0 at home to Fulham.
Brentford could have climbed above Chelsea, which plays Manchester United later, and into sixth place with a win but missed a slew of chances. Top scorer Igor Thiago hit the goal frame.
Leicester heading for third tier
Ten years after winning the Premier League, Leicester looks to be heading to the third tier of English soccer.
A 1-0 loss at Portsmouth on Saturday left Leicester in second-to-last place in the Championship.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer