We suffered defeat at St James’ Park as Alexander Isak’s early header was enough to take all three points from Newcastle United.

The Swedish striker’s strike proved to be the key moment in a game with few opportunities and our best performance fell to Mikel Merino, who cleared Lewis Hall’s shot off the line in the first half.

There was drama recently when Declan Rice looked set to equalize but sent his header wide of the target as we suffered consecutive away defeats in the league for the first time since May 2022.

rapid decline

The first half was a tight affair with neither side able to impose themselves on the other, meaning shot opportunities were few and far between. However, the most impressive moment came 12 minutes in, when the majority of St James’ Park began celebrating.

Isak found himself in space in the final third and passed the ball to Sea Longstaff, who fed Anthony Gordon down the right. The Englishman made a dangerous first-time shot and Isak rose highest to slot past David Raya to score for the third consecutive game.

This gave great confidence to the home team, who were winless in five league games, and they managed to keep us quiet for the first 25 minutes, when Bukayo Saka came close to Isak’s goal with a few leaping moves from either side.

We almost equalized when William Saliba headed Declan Rice’s corner into a congested penalty area before Mikel Merino’s shot was blocked by Lewis Hall and he raced away.

But the remaining 20 minutes of the opening 45 were closely contested and neither side tested the goalkeeper, although there were a number of good shots into the home side’s half, meaning it was still all set in the second half.

It won’t happen in the second half

That might not have been the case in the opening minute following the restart, when former Gunner Joe Willock saw goal on a quick counter-attack but Raya equalized his effort and then the same player tried his luck again. In the 58th minute, but this time the home fans took the lead from a good position.

Newcastle were on top at this point and Raya was called back into the game five minutes later when he pushed a fierce Isak shot from 20 yards, but the game was on such a knife’s edge that we almost equalized seconds later with Rice’s cut-back. He entered the box and saw the shot deflected agonizingly wide of Nick Pope’s far post.

But chances dried up once again as both teams defended resolutely and with four minutes left Joelinton forced Raya to dirty his gloves, albeit with a tame header.

As the contest went into stoppage time, Ethan Nwaneri looked to repeat his superb strike at Preston in midweek only to see it head towards the Gallowgate End, but a great opportunity fell open to Rice in the 94th minute when Saka swung in a delicious begging delivery. However, the English player made a wrong move and saw his chance to grab a point gone.

Facts and statistics

While we have lost just one of our first 25 Premier League games in 2024 (W21 D3), we have lost two of our last three.

Newcastle have won three of their last four home games against us in the Premier League (L1), as many wins as they have in their previous 23 games (W3 D8 L12).

Before Mikel Arteta came in as manager, we conceded the opening goal in three consecutive away games in the league for the first time since December 2019 (5 in a row).

Newcastle, St. They have lost just one of their last 13 Premier League games at St. James’ Park (W7 D5), having won three of their five home games in the 2024/25 season.

Alexander Isak, who scored three consecutive goals for Newcastle in all competitions for the first time since January of last season, will be back in St. He directly contributed to 18 goals in the last 17 matches in the Premier League, where he started at St. James’ Park.

Bukayo Saka picked up six fouls against Newcastle, the most in any game for us, and this was his 239th appearance in all competitions for the club.

what’s next

We turn our attention to the Champions League and travel to Italy to face Inter Milan at the San Siro on Wednesday night. Next comes the Premier League clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, November 10, before the final international break of the year.