Newcastle may finally be mastering the tricky art of winning twice in a week. Eddie Howe’s players did not always convince and it was not until the 90th minute that Bruno Guimarães secured all three points, but ultimately they followed up the 3-0 Champions League victory over Benfica by edging past Fulham.
That should be a relief to Newcastle’s new chief executive, David Hopkinson, who is presiding over a 100-day review of all areas of club operations. It is the sort of management exercise beloved of senior executives across assorted companies but the reality at St James’ Park is that almost every department remains largely a hostage to first-team fortunes. If Howe’s team fail to qualify for the Champions League again next season everyone suffers the consequences.
Given the odds are against Newcastle lifting that trophy in Budapest next spring, they desperately need to hit their Premier League stride and start clambering up the table. That process began here with only their third league victory of the season as Fulham were belatedly consigned to a fourth straight defeat.
“We can’t underestimate the challenge of playing Tuesday and Saturday,” said Howe. “I’m just delighted we found a way to win against a very difficult opponent. Late wins are arguably the best sort of wins.”
Newcastle had scored early after an awful concentration lapse by Calvin Bassey prefaced Jacob Murphy’s opener. As Bassey lingered on the ball, the right-winger arrived on his blind side, stole possession and accelerated towards the area.
Not for nothing is Murphy known as the assist king on Tyneside but all too often his finishing lets him down. This, though, proved a glorious exception with Marco Silva’s goalkeeper Bernd Leno powerless to prevent Murphy’s ensuing angled shot arrowing into the bottom corner.
In July Newcastle signed Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest for £55m to supposedly serve as an upgrade on Murphy but the latter is deservedly keeping the former out of Howe’s starting XI.
Although Murphy neglected inviting invitations to polish off another couple of chances, Nick Woltemade sliced an early chance against a post and Anthony Gordon tormented Kenny Tete, a sporadically slapdash Newcastle did not exactly have it all their own way.
Fulham had their moments, most notably when Adama Traoré escaped Dan Burn and delivered some dangerous right-wing crosses. The evergreen Raúl Jiménez troubled Sven Botman, threatening to unhinge Howe’s rearguard, and Nick Pope further reaffirmed his candidacy for England’s World Cup squad by saving smartly from Sander Berge.
Newcastle did not always make the most of Woltemade’s ability to link play and instead allowed Fulham to mount a convincing response to falling behind. Sure enough when Kevin, introduced at half-time, crossed with menace from the left, Jiménez’s volley rebounded off the bar and Sasa Lukic bravely beat Botman to head beyond Pope.
after newsletter promotion
Botman’s attempt to prevent that equaliser left the Dutch defender nursing a gashed head and looking decidedly groggy. On came Fabian Schär as part of a triple home substitution also featuring the arrival of Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes.
Their task was, partly, to help control Kevin. Despite a certain erraticism, the Brazilian winger, Fulham’s summer signing for a record £34.6m, had begun demonstrating why he was Shakhtar Donetsk’s player of the season last term by teasing Kieran Trippier.
With Silva’s side now looking dangerous almost every time they attacked, Newcastle needed to take their chances and could have done without an unmarked Guimarães heading over the bar. Newcastle’s captain knew he should have done better but there was still time to make amends. No matter that the Brazilian left it rather late, he delighted in sweeping a 90th-minute shot past Leno after connecting with the rebound when the goalkeeper could only parry a shot from the impressively dynamic substitute Will Osula.
It left Fulham only three points above the relegation zone and presumably cursing Malick Thiaw’s defensive excellence. Without his stabilising presence alongside first Botman, then Schär, the outcome might have been very different.
“We did not take any points,” said Silva. “This is our reality right now. But Newcastle are very strong; we should be very proud of our reaction to their first goal.”
