Newcastle leaves it late to beat struggling Fulham
Bruno Guimaraes was the hero as his last-minute winner handed Newcastle United a 2-1 Premier League victory over struggling Fulham at St. James' Park.
Just one point and one place split the teams in the table ahead of this game, and it looked as though there would be nothing to separate them on the field until the clock struck 90 minutes.
Newcastle was bright throughout the first half, with Jacob Murphy dispossessing Calvin Bassey before finishing smartly across Bernd Leno for an 18th-minute opener.
Murphy, like Nick Woltemade, had already struck the post before then, and he should have doubled Newcastle's lead just before half-time, when he was denied by Leno one-on-one.
Marco Silva's half-time introduction of Kevin gave Fulham more of a foothold, and when the Brazilian's cross was hammered off the crossbar by Raul Jimenez in the 56th minute, Sasa Lukic nodded in on the rebound.
Guimaraes then headed over from a fine position as Newcastle pushed for a winner, while Ryan Sessegnon's heroic block denied Anthony Elanga and Sandro Tonali's audacious volley from a tight angle was clawed away by Leno.
Newcastle's pressure finally told with stoppage-time looming. Another giveaway from Bassey allowed William Osula to drive forward and shoot from the edge of the box, and though Leno made the save, Guimaraes slotted home on the rebound.
The victory takes Newcastle up to 11th on the table with 12 points, while Fulham is four back in 16th, with only a three-point cushion to the relegation zone, and boss Eddie Howe applauded his side's relentless pursuit of victory.
"It was end-to-end," he said. "I thought it was a really attacking performance from both teams; both teams were going for the win. We're delighted to get it ourselves.
"I thought it was a really good last 20 minutes from us; we were relentless in our pursuit to try and win. Eventually, one of those chances fell for us.
"Those points are so precious, but you also carry forward the belief that you can win in any situation, even when it doesn't look like you will."
"I feel unbelievable," Guimaraes added. "We cannot play the perfect game every time, but we need to find the three points, and we did that today.
"[I am] very pleased for everyone. This is the Newcastle I know, we fight until the end."
Fulham, meanwhile, has now lost four successive Premier League games for only the second time since returning to the top flight in 2022.
"Overall, I have the feeling that we deserved something from the game," manager Marco Silva said.
"We've been speaking about maturity. It's not just about age, you have to be streetwise in some moments; we have to do the basics well, feel the danger sometimes.
"We have to learn that football will punish you if you're not on it every single moment. This is a difficult moment, all these defeats in a row are not good at all."
