Alexander Isak’s first-half penalty was followed by second-half headers from Dan Burn and Will Osula, with the goals ensuring the Magpies avoided a slip-up against an Ipswich side whose relegation back to the Championship has now been confirmed.
The Magpies’ task was made much easier when Ipswich’s Ben Johnson was dismissed for two bookings late in the first half – the midfielder followed up a dive on the edge of the box with a needless tug on Isak – with the home side having started relatively sluggishly against 11 men.
They were utterly dominant when taking on ten, with their victory having lifted them back above Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Manchester City into third position in the table.
They boast a two-point gap to fifth position ahead of next weekend’s trip to Brighton, which will be followed by games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton.
Eddie Howe was back in the dugout after recovering from pneumonia, and the Newcastle boss made one change to his starting line-up, with Joe Willock replacing Joelinton, who was absent because of a knee injury.
The Magpies dominated possession from the kick-off, but it was Ipswich who were presented with the game’s opening opportunity four minutes in.
Burn’s errant pass out of defence conceded possession deep in Newcastle’s own half, but former Sunderland winger Jack Clarke could only fire a deflected shot narrowly wide of the post.
Newcastle gradually began to exert control over proceedings, although they struggled to create clear-cut opportunities as the Ipswich defence successfully dealt with a succession of somewhat hopeful balls into the box.
The home side were struggling to get to the ball to a tightly-marked Isak, although they were unfortunate not to open the scoring when they had the ball in the net midway through the first half.
Isak failed to get to Kieran Trippier’s cross, but when the ball looped into the air, Ipswich goalkeeper Alex Palmer collided with Bruno Guimaraes, who then deflected the ball into the net from close to the goalline.
Palmer appeared to initiate the contact by moving into Guimaraes, but Salisbury penalised the Brazilian midfielder, and a subsequent VAR check failed to overturn the on-field decision. Nevertheless, it felt like a poor call.
Newcastle continued to push, but Isak twice failed to find the target from decent positions, first heading Harvey Barnes cross over the bar, then volleying over at the back post after Jacob Murphy crossed from the right.
The Magpies’ task became significantly easier eight minutes before the break, though, as Ipswich were reduced to ten men.
Ben Johnson had already been booked for a dive on the edge of the Newcastle box when he pulled back Isak to prevent the striker from breaking down the left flank. It was definitely a bookable offence, and Johnson was duly shown a yellow card that resulted in a red.
Playing against ten men, Newcastle came within inches of breaking the deadlock two minutes before the break. Murphy pulled the ball back to Sandro Tonali, and from just outside the area, the Italian curled a superb effort against the crossbar.
A couple of minutes later, though, and a breathless period of play ended with Newcastle finally claiming the lead in first-half stoppage time.
Julio Enciso allowed Murphy to get on the wrong side of him as Guimaraes slipped a ball into the box, and when the Ipswich midfielder thrust out an arm to pull back his opponent, Murphy fell to ground.
Salisbury initially waved play on, but after he was instructed to go to his screen, the referee overturned his initial verdict and awarded a penalty. Isak stepped up and calmly fired home his 22nd league goal of the season.
Barnes fired narrowly over the top as Newcastle tried to make the game safe by claiming a second goal at the start of the second half, and with their pressure having become fairly incessant, the hosts successfully added a second goal 11 minutes after the break.
A short-corner routine ended with Trippier standing up a cross to the back post, and Dan Burn powered forward to head home from two yards out.
Trippier claimed his second assist with ten minutes remaining, hanging up a corner that was headed home by Osula just four minutes after he came off the bench to replace Barnes.
