Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy has backed Newcastle to be crowned champions after his side lost 3-0 at St James' Park.
Two goals from Ayoze Perez and one from Matt Ritchie earned Rafael Benitez's side their fifth consecutive league win and saw them move three points clear at the top of the Championship table.
Ipswich went into the game on the back of a 2-0 win over Burton Albion in midweek but McCarthy admitted his side were beaten by a far superior outfit.
"We were beaten by the best team, beaten by the champions if anything. If you see a better team than that this year I'd be surprised," McCarthy said.
"I've just spoken to the players and there's not a lot more we could have done. We tried everything to stop them. The one pleasing thing is we kept it at 1-0 for 70 minutes.
"All three finishes were fabulous, they were better than us, they are better than us, and they will be champions in my view. We tried everything and nothing worked. They are a very good team and we got what we deserved.
"We tried to press but we didn't do that particularly well. I don't know how many passes they had before the ball ended up in the back of the net. It was difficult."