Premier League
Last-gasp Newcastle make Fulham pay for Aleksandar Mitrovic's double-hit penalty blunder
By Luke Edwards at St James' Park
This was bonkers, a game of complete and utter chaos, crazy, confusing, disjointed. It was a thrilling, exhausting mess of a football match and wonderfully entertaining with it.
Long after the final whistle had blown and the noise of Newcastle United’s celebrations had died down, it was still hard to make sense of what had happened. To fully appreciate how close Fulham had come to winning, only to head home, tired, bruised and defeated.
It is difficult to unpick everything that happened in the final, breathtaking 30 minutes, but it makes sense to start with Aleksandar Mitrovic’s missed penalty, move on to Alexander Isak’s late winner and end with yet more praise of Newcastle United’s sheer bloody mindedness; their relentless refusal to be beaten and canny mastery of the dark arts.
Eddie Howe’s side have kept five successive clean sheets in the top flight for the first time in the club’s history for a very good reason.
They have not conceded a goal in the Premier League since November 6th and just 11 in 19 games all season. They are arguably the hardest team to beat in the country and keep finding a way to win. It makes them dangerous, a threat to everyone, which is precisely why this manager and group of players are so adored on Tyneside.
The game had meandered along for the first hour or so. Newcastle were not at their best. Far from it, but they had still created chances. Callum Wilson could have done better with three headers, failing to get one of them on target and was also denied by a good save from Bernd Leno in the first half.
Fulham, though, were really good. Marco Silva’s side played as well as any visiting team has managed in this campaign, stifling Newcastle on the pitch, subuding them in the stands.
And for a few seconds in the second half, they thought they had taken the lead, players, supporters and staff celebrating a goal from Mitrovic from the penalty spot that appeared to have put them on course for a perfect smash and grab away win.
The drama began when Andreas Pereira went down under pressure from Dan Burn. In real time, it looked like he had been tugged to the ground by Dan Burn as he prepared to shoot. Referee Robert Jones waved away the appeals from Fulham’s players and coaching staff.
Newcastle had launched an attack and were waiting to take a corner when Var checked the replays and chose not to overrule him. Fulham were furious, but calmed a little when told a second check, for a foul by Kieran Trippier on Bobby Decordova-Reid, inside the box was underway.
This time Jones was sent to his screen to take a look and the replays clearly showed Trippier diving in rashly, getting nowhere near the ball and kicking the back of the Fulham player’s leg. A penalty was awarded.
Newcastle’s players did everything they could to put Mitrovic off. Goalkeeper Nick Pope was booked for throwing a second ball onto the pitch. Dan Burn refused to give him the one in play, holding it above his six foot seven inch frame so nobody could reach it. Throughout it all, Callum Wilson stood on the penalty spot with his studs in the wet turf around it.
When the melee had been cleared, Mitrovic appeared to have kept his concentration. The ball went one way and Pope went the other. Fulham’s fans, staff and players celebrated confidently.
But the Serbian had lost his footing as he shot, kicking the ball against his standing foot on its way into the net. Instead of giving his side the lead, Mitrovic had given away a free kick.
The cheers no longer came from the travelling fans in the top tier of the Leazes End. The noise came from the home fans and was louder than it had been all afternoon. It did not die down again.
Attacking downhill, towards the Gallowgate End, this is what Newcastle love and the fans roared them on in every tackle and after every pass forward.
Everything had changed. Having looked as though they were running out of ideas, Newcastle suddenly attacked from every angle, wave after wave battering an increasingly stretched looking Fulham defence.
There was one minute of normal time left to play. The ball came out to Sean Longstaff, a touch to control it and then a delicate, sweeping chipped cross to the far post. Wilson won the header, hitting the back of Issa Diop inside the six yard box. Leno had spread himself to make a save, Wilson reacted fast, controlling the ricochet on his chest, before knocking it back into the path of Isak to nod over the line.
On as a substitute, it was the club record signing’s third goal of the season and the simplest of finishes to win the most confusing of games.
Newcastle moved back up to third with the win, leapfrogging Manchester United, one point below Manchester City in second and five clear of Tottenham in fifth. They are proving very hard to dislodge from the title race and that does not look like changing anytime soon.
Newcastle 1 Fulham 0 - as it happened
Marco Silva speaks - 'Newcastle should have had a red card'
On the referee...
"So many things to say about the ref's performance. But first I will say that I am really proud of the players and my team. We had ambition, quality, desire and showed why we are doing so well this season...The referee. It is a clear penalty, red card for the player and the game would be completely different. The fourth official gave it but the referee made his decision. On Andreas Pereira, it was clear that it was a red card. The red card would have made it completely different, with 10 men. I felt it from the first minute unfortunately."
On his team's performance...
"I have to say Newcastle's physicality and quality is really good. From the first minutes, we demonstrated our quality. We did not have enough time to prepare well after we had a tough tough game 60 hours ago. Newcastle were much fresher than us. We never lost our organisation. We showed always that we were very compact as a block. Unlucky afternoon for us."
On his side's lack of luck...
"Credit to Newcastle, they are a really strong side as well. We missed a penalty and we should have attacked more. Credit to them for not giving us more chances. We knew that we could not press for the full 90 minutes. We were very unlucky this afternoon. Very unlucky the way we lost this game. It went against us."
Match stats from our chums at Opta
- Newcastle have 38 points from 19 games in the Premier League this season (W10 D8 L1); it’s their most at the half-way mark of a season in the competition since 2001-02 (39), when they finished fourth.
- Four of Fulham’s seven Premier League defeats this season have come to goals conceded in the final five minutes of games, including each of their last three defeats in the league. This is twice as many winning goals conceded in the final five minutes as any other side in the 2022-23 competition.
- Newcastle are yet to lose at home in the Premier League this season (P10 W6 D4 L0). It's the first time they have avoided defeat in each of their first 10 games of a campaign at St. James' Park in the competition since 1995-96 (first 13).
- Newcastle have kept more clean sheets (11) and conceded fewer goals (11) than any side in the Premier League this season.
- Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic has failed to score three of his six Premier League penalties this season; no player has ever missed more in a single campaign in the competition.
- Newcastle’s Alexander Isak has scored in three of his four Premier League appearances, although despite this, today was the first time he has won a match in the competition (W1 D2 L1).
80 mins: Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
Free kick for the hosts who, bar that Schar attempt hitting the post, have been poor from set pieces all afternoon. Will this one, on the right in the final third, be any different? The answer is 'very nearly'. Trippier's delivery is good, Diop heads it clear but it falls to Joseph Linton (Joelinton in case you were wondering...allow me my fun, please...) and his shot is deflected and eventually well taken by Leno.
Luke Edwards at St James' Park
Aleksander Mitrovic has just kicked a penalty against his standing foot, thought he had scored for Fulham, and instead gave away a free kick. It has been an absolutely mental five minutes at SJP and the atmosphere, flat all afternoon, has become a furnace of noise.
I need to see several television replays to try and make sense of all of that. It started with Andreas Pereira diving trying to win a spot kick under pressure from Dan Burn, led to Kieran Trippier making a stupid follow up challenge on Bobby Decordova to give away the spot kick. After that, it was just chaos
Penalty for Fulham!
Fulham break down the left through Decordova Reid, he puts in a low cross for Andreas Pereira who is pulled down by Dan Burn in the area - the visitors are sure it's a penalty but the ref is having none of it and VAR backs him up. A moment later Decordova Reid also goes down under a challenge of Tripper. Again the man in the middle waves play on BUT this time VAR tells Robert Jones to look at the monitor and this time he points to the spot.
59 mins: Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
Joelinton (how I want him to be really called Joseph Linton...) shows good close control as he's fouled by Ream. A free kick 25 yards out is the result, a good position for a Trippier special...but it's not the England man who takes it, it's Schar who goes for goal and it hits the post. That's as close as we've come to a goal this afternoon.
53 mins: Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
Fulham are growing into this half. They are enjoying more of the ball and getting higher up the pitch and earn another corner.
Can they fashion a chance from this set piece? The answer is 'nearly'. Andreas Pereira whips in a curling inswinger that Jimmy Anderson would be proud of. Pope gets a vital fist on in. Had the Newcastle goalkeeper not, that could well have crept into the net at the back post.
From Luke Edwards at St James' Park
Quite why Bruno stayed on for so long when he could barely run after going over on his ankle is a mystery. He needed to be taken off for his own good, but even after signalling to come off Newcastle did not have a substitute ready. Really poor. He’s run around for half an hour on an injured ankle and probably made the injury a lot worse.
During the first half Chelsea announced
The signing of Mykhailo Mudryk on an eight-and-a-half-year contract - yes, eight and a half...
Here more on the Ukrainian and what he might bring to Stamford Bridge...
41 mins: Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
More patient build up from the hosts results in Longstaff being tripped up by Andreas Pereira. Newcastle have a free kick some 25 yards out - the sort of range Trippier fancies. But the England man's attempt hits the wall, winning a corner. The hosts go short before Trippier gets in a cross that Fulham head clear.
33 mins: Newcastle 0-0 Fulham
Willock drives down the left before putting in a low cross to the near post where Wilson is lurking. The ball goes across the box and Fulham breathe a sigh of relief. For all their possession Newcastle are being dealt with well by the west Londoners.
Meanwhile, both Nick Pope and Guimaraes are both down. The Brazilian is getting strapping to his ankle. Both get up after a while. Not sure how Pope, who has done nothing all match, got a knock...
Eddie Howe speaks...
On potential moves in the transfer market...
“We are working hard at the moment in staying very much in contact with the market and players but we are not imminently close to signing anybody, we are not actively bidding for players at the moment...January is not the ideal time to recruit – there’s a much smaller pool of players available and prices are potentially higher as well because of that.
On keeping the talent Newcastle have...
“There’s not a huge desire in me to sell anyone this window but it always depends on what’s presented to you – something can come left-field that the club thinks is a good deal to do...Certainly my intention is to develop what we have rather than lose anybody – I don’t think we’re at the stage where we are overloaded with quality or with numbers."
Marco Silva speaks...
On Fulham's season so far...
"Of course we are in a great position in the table, but we are not here to change anything from our goals until we have achieved that, this is clear for me...The goal is still at the same level, no-one in our football club will change the goals if we have not achieved it. Until we have achieved our target of this club remaining in the Premier League, we are not changing anything from our aim and from our ambitions...We are an ambitious football club, definitely. I have ambition as a manager, and my players too, but you have to be realistic...We are really pleased with the way we have been playing, which has achieved great results for us, but the Premier League is really tough."
From Luke Edwards at St James' Park
The big surprise from Eddie Howe is he has decided not to drop Joelinton after he was arrested in the early hours of Thursday morning and charged with drunk driving. Not sure what sort of message that sends discipline wise, but Howe has done enough in his time as Newcastle manager to be given the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Here are the two teams
NEWCASTLE XI TO FACE FULHAM: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Willock, Almiron, Wilson, Joelinton. Subs: Dubravka, Lascelles, Saint-Maximin, Ritchie, Lewis, Isak, Manquillo, Wood, Murphy.
FULHAM XI TO FACE NEWCASTLE: Leno, Tete, Diop, Ream, Kurzawa, Joao Palhinha, Reed, Reid, Andreas Pereira, Willian, Mitrovic. Subs: Rodak, Adarabioyo, Wilson, Cairney, Solomon, Chalobah, James, Vinicius, Harris.
Eddie Howe backs Dan Burn for England
Eddie Howe has told Dan Burn not to give up on his England dream ahead of Newcastle's match against Fulham this afternoon.
The 6ft 6in defender found himself on the fringes of Gareth Southgate's squad ahead of last year's World Cup in Qatar along with club-mates Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson, but ultimately did not make the cut.
However, the 30-year-old's form since, which he capped with a first goal for the club in Tuesday night's 2-0 Carabao Cup quarter-final victory over Leicester, has been excellent and Howe is convinced he could yet make his mark at international level.
Howes said: "Dan is probably silently very motivated by that. I don't think it's something he would communicate necessarily to me or to his team-mates, maybe when pushed in the media possibly.
"But I think he is very much of the mindset that his performances speak for themselves, really, and that he would hope that they would be enough to be in contention.
"For me, he was very unlucky not to go to the World Cup, not putting pressure on Gareth but I would think he would have been very close. He just missed out, I think, and he's carried that form on.
"Credit to Dan that he's carried that form on. The World Cup has ended and that dream faded, but there's still time for him and his adaptability and versatility is potentially a real avenue and a route in for England, potentially."
Blyth-born Burn returned to the club which let him go as an 11-year-old in a £13million switch from Brighton in January last year and has been a big hit, particularly since slotting into a miserly defence at left-back, a role in which he is likely to continue against Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
Howe said: "If you're going to sign a player of Dan's age and of that profile, you hope it goes as his story has. I agree with you, I think he has improved.
"He's done a very, very good job in whatever position I've asked him to play, he's embraced everything that the club stands for and I think he's got a winning mindset.
"He's not here just to play for Newcastle, he wants to achieve, so it's turned out to be a very good transfer for us.
"He's very humble, he's very easy to manage, to be honest. He's very low-maintenance from my perspective and he's a top player as well, so it's a great mix from a manager's perspective, definitely."