Newcastle United kept their European hopes alive as they ended the 2023-2024 Premier League season with a thrilling 4-2 victory at Brentford.

The Magpies will qualify for the Europa Conference League if Manchester City beat cross-city rivals Manchester United in Saturday's FA Cup final.

After a positive start from Brentford, the visitors took the lead on 21 minutes through Harvey Barnes' header, and their advantage was soon doubled through Jacob Murphy.

Alexander Isak slotted beyond the goalkeeper to make it 3-0 before half-time, but the hosts responded after the interval thanks to goals from Vitaly Janelt and Yoane Wissa.

Bruno Guimaraes got Newcastle's fourth in the 78th minute to ensure the Geordies claimed the three points as they end the season in seventh place, whilst Brentford finish in 16th.

The Bees thought they had made the perfect start inside two minutes but after a VAR check Ivan Toney’s effort was ruled out by referee Simon Hooper for offside.

Toney continued to search for a goal against his former club but was denied by the outstretched leg of Nick Pope.

It was Newcastle, though, who should have taken the lead before the 10-minute mark as Isak set up an unmarked Joelinton from close range, but the Brazilian failed to convert.

The visitors then broke the deadlock on 21 minutes, with Barnes darting into the six-yard box to meet a delightful delivery by Guimaraes and head the visitors ahead.

Sean Longstaff thought he had quickly doubled their advantage, only to be flagged offside, but Murphy was not denied when he latched onto Isak's exquisite pass across the penalty area to make it 2-0.

Just two minutes later, Isak grabbed his 21st goal of the season when he fired past Mark Flekken.

The Brentford stopper ensured Isak did not extend Newcastle's advantage further with a smart stop to deny the Swedish international before half-time.

The home side responded after the interval and Janelt reduced the deficit, striking home after being picked out by Wissa.

Pope clawed away Toney’s header before Wissa curled a superb effort past the goalkeeper to set up a tense finale for the visitors.

The nerves, though, were soon settled when Guimaraes followed up a free-kick to ensure the points returned to Tyneside.

Brentford's home defence breached

Brentford end the season comfortably above the bottom three, after arguably their toughest campaign yet in the Premier League, having contended with key players and the talk of a potential relegation battle at the turn of the year.

The Bees could not finish on a high - instead they looked beaten before the half-time whistle, although they scored twice in the second half to test Newcastle's resolve.

Going into the match with a recent impressive home record, including having kept a clean sheet in the past three, Newcastle's attacking capabilities were too much for the hosts to handle.

It means Thomas Frank will have to wait to earn his 100th win in charge of the club, whilst Toney ends the season having not scored in his past 12 league games. However, Mathias Jensen did become the third Brentford player to reach 100 Premier League appearances.

Toon await news of European qualification

It has been an entertaining season for Newcastle, with more than 80 goals scored and over 60 goals conceded.

And the entertainment continued here. After being relieved that Toney's early goal was chalked off for offside, the Toon established a three-goal lead at the break mainly thanks to the individual brilliance of Isak.

It was a rare win on their travels for Eddie Howe’s side, whose patchy away form has proved costly in their quest to earn a top-six finish, with St James' Park providing the majority of their points.

The Magpies will now have a close eye on next weekend's FA Cup final between Manchester rivals United and City.

Hwang Hee-chan scored twice as Brentford forgot how to defend and Wolves took full advantage with a 4-1 win in west London.

Hwang took his tally for the season to 11 as Wanderers followed up their Christmas Eve win over Chelsea by collecting another festive three points.

It was a first victory in the capital in 15 attempts for Wolves, their last coming in a 2-0 win at Tottenham in February last year.

But it was gifted to them by a Brentford side who could soon be looking nervously over their shoulders at the relegation battle after a fourth straight defeat and a sixth in seven matches.

The Bees are riddled with injuries and suspensions – they had 10 players unavailable here – but there was still no excuse for some alarming defensive errors.

Nathan Collins arguably had his best game for Wolves; unfortunately the centre-half left Molineux to join Brentford in June.

The Bees’ record signing endured a nightmare against his former club, handing them two goals with terrible passes on an evening to forget.

Wolves were inches from taking the lead when Joao Gomes played Hwang in behind and his low cross was sliced narrowly over his own crossbar by Vitaly Janelt.

But from the corner, in the 13th minute, they did find the net after the ball was cleared as far as Pablo Sarabia, whose cross was met by a header from the totally unmarked Mario Lemina.

What came next was an utter farce from the hosts as they played the ball back from their own kick-off towards goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

Collins’ backpass to the Dutchman was woefully underhit and, barely 10 seconds after the restart, Hwang had rounded him and tapped into an empty net.

The crowd at the Gtech Stadium had barely caught their breath again when the Bees pulled one back, Yoane Wissa latching on to Neal Maupay’s clever flick and firing home.

Unbelievably, it could have gone from goalless to 2-2 in the space of five minutes but Jose Sa kept out a close-range header from Janelt.

Instead Wolves doubled their lead again when Toti’s powerful, clearing header was allowed to float between Collins and Mads Roerslev and straight to Hwang.

The South Korean turned, lifted the ball over the covering Ethan Pinnock and fired the ball past the exposed Flekken into the bottom corner.

Brentford could have pulled another back before half-time but Collins headed a Saman Ghoddos corner over and Maupay fired wide after being fed by Wissa in stoppage time.

Wolves lost Hwang to a back injury moments before the interval, but his replacement Jean-Ricner Bellegarde wrapped up their victory with 11 minutes left.

Collins was again the fall guy when his lazy pass across the face of goal was intercepted by Matheus Cunha, who played in Bellegarde for a simple finish.