Fulham 0 Newcastle 1
Fulham welcomed Newcastle to Craven Cottage with both sides looking to put themselves in contention for European places next season. Marco Silva was looking for more from his team after their disappointing display against Nott’m Forest in midweek.
The hosts started well, Castagne burst forward before finding Pereira in the box. He neatly laid the ball off to Willian on the edge of the box. His first shot was blocked by a defender but the former Chelsea man dragged his second effort wide of the post with Dubravka a spectator.
Castagne then did brilliantly to keep the ball from going out for a goal kick as he slid and crossed the ball all in one movement. He found Palhinha in the box who hit a first-time shot narrowly wide of the far post. The Cottagers were putting Eddie Howe’s side under immense pressure.
The Magpies broke for the first time and the ball was played into Gordon in the middle of the park. He ran towards the box before getting a shot away, completely unopposed. His effort went narrowly wide, knocking over the keeper’s water bottle in the process.
Credit: @NUFC
Silva’s side had a big chance to take the lead before the break when Burn tried to clear the ball and it went straight through his legs. Palhinha ran into the box before laying it off to Muniz, but his effort was tame and made for an easy save for Dubravka.
Soon after the restart, Gordon had acres of space to work with down the left. He charged towards goal, before cutting inside and getting a right-footed shot away. Leno got down well to save and beat the ball away in the process.
Pereira then played a neat one-two with Muniz but Dubravka made a great save to deny the midfielder the opening goal of the game. On the balance of play, the hosts deserved to be in front but sadly football does not work that way.
Newcastle forced a corner and the hosts failed to clear their lines fully. The ball dropped to Schar at the far edge of the six yard box. He rifled a shot towards goal, which went through a sea of players and into the back of the net to give the visitors the lead.
VAR reviewed the goal and sent the referee to the monitor. The issue was a push from Burn on Bassey in the build-up. After watching the replay, the official agreed with Stockley Park and disallowed the goal much to the anger of The Magpies’ manager.
Substitute Barnes started to cause problems down the left and did well to get to the byline before crossing. Once again Fulham failed to clear the ball fully and it dropped to Guimaraes in the box. He seemed to scuff his shot into the ground but he got enough of a contact to beat Leno in the hosts’ goal.
Credit: @NUFC
Scoring so late on in the game, Fulham struggled to recover and Newcastle held on for all three points. It took them to eighth in the table and within touching distance of West Ham and Man Utd above them. A pleasing trip to the capital for The Magpies.
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