Fulham 0-1 Newcastle — Match Report: Obrigado, Bruno!

Newcastle United secured a 1-0 victory over Fulham with Bruno Guimaraes scoring the decisive goal in the 81st minute.

The win at Fulham, a much-needed one for Euro-clinching purposes, continues Newcastle’s strong form, following a victory against West Ham and most recently a draw with Everton, bringing them seven points from the last three matches.

Guimaraes’ goal was doubly fantastic to watch happen as it arrived on his 100th appearance for Newcastle, once again showcasing his talents and how pivotal he is for Eddie Howe and his side.

The match had a bit of controversy baked into it although we can now forget about it as Bruno fixed that for us. Basically, the refs decided to task VAR with confirming the opening goal, and their verdict was a sound ‘No goal’.

Fabian Schar was thus left without a goal after a VAR review called a foul by Dan Burn committed on Calvin Bassey, a decision that many found debatable at best, nonsensical at worst.

However, Newcastle quickly overcame this setback when Harvey Barnes, coming on as a substitute, created the opportunity for Guimaraes’ goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

“Firstly, [Bruno] is very defensively intelligent, very aggressive and physical,” Howe said about Bruno. “His main quality though is with the ball, his technical ability which we didn’t see early in the game because we didn’t have the ball. In the second half we saw plenty of that and I thought he was instrumental in us getting the win.”

This being a Newcastle game, someone had to suffer an injury. Enter Joe Willock, who had to leave early. Can’t catch a break, man.

Willock has struggled with fitness this season, making just five Premier League starts due to various ailments, but this was just simply leveling up by the football gods up there. Sheesh...

Contrary to what they have been doing of late Newcastle’s performance was marked by a stout defensive unit and more of a tactic, gritty approach to the game than anything else.

Schar and Dan Burn were brick walls at the back. Fulham can say they controlled the game, but they didn’t scare. The team’s ability to secure their first away league clean sheet since a victory over Sheffield United (8-0 in September, neither of those facts a typo) is the first building block in what we hope is an improved defensive unit for the last month-and-change of the season.

This win places Newcastle just a point below sixth-placed Manchester United, and all of a sudden the hopes for clinching qualification for some—whatever it is—European competition it is, are bigger than ever.

No need to mention how helpful it’d be for the Magpies to get there if only to soften the burden imposed by the Premier League profit and sustainability regulations if they secure a spot in Europe.

Howay!