Newcastle bounce back from midweek woes with big win over Fulham
The Magpies suffered a massive blow when they were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League in midweek, and there were more groans around St. James’ Park despite a decent start as Fabian Schär was forced off with a hamstring injury just 14 minutes into proceedings.
On the other hand, Raúl Jiménez had encapsulated Fulham’s impressive form in recent weeks, but was sent off after 22 minutes having jumped through Sean Longstaff and connected with his head.
Eddie Howe’s side soon got into their flow and moved the ball well following those disruptions. Anthony Gordon couldn’t quite get them ahead on the half-hour mark, though, smashing his strike against the crossbar and seeing the ball bounce through Longstaff’s legs.
Joelinton then gifted Alex Iwobi a chance and while Martin Dúbravka was equal to the shot, there was more frustration when the Brazilian was forced off through injury moments later.
Newcastle pushed the Cottagers back for large periods, but when Tino Livramento created their best opening for Longstaff, he was swiftly closed down by Bernd Leno.
The goalkeeper was called into action again soon after the restart, getting down impressively to stop Gordon and then holding Lewis Miley’s powerful effort moments later.
The 17-year-old then left him with no chance, latching onto a loose ball following good work from Bruno Guimarães and coolly sending it into the bottom corner for his first-ever senior goal.
Their second arrived just seven minutes later, as Gordon’s ball trickled past Leno and Callum Wilson, with Miguel Almirón capitalising to score his first PL goal since September.
Dan Burn then marked his first start since returning from an injury suffered at the beginning of November by bundling the ball home after his initial header had been saved, as Newcastle recovered from their three-game run of defeats with what ended up being a very comfortable win.
Fulham, meanwhile, were brought crashing back down to earth after enjoying back-to-back 5-0 wins for the first time in their history.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bruno Guimarães (Newcastle United)
