Bruno Guimaraes marked his 100th appearance for Newcastle United with a late goal to defeat Fulham 1-0 at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Newcastle's midfielder rifled in with nine minutes remaining, shortly after Fabian Schar had seen a goal disallowed following a VAR review.
The visitors' momentum ultimately told, although their performance prior to Schar's effort hardly merited a precious away win in their pursuit of European football.
Fulham might have ran out comfortable victors had they taken their chances prior to Newcastle's late rally, having shown vast improvement from a midweek loss to Nottingham Forest.
Newcastle are in eighth place on 47 points, while Fulham remain in 13th on 39 points.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +14 | 63 |
| 7 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +23 | 60 |
| 8 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
38 | -1 | 60 |
| 9 |
West Ham
WHU
|
38 | -14 | 52 |
| 10 |
Crystal Palace
CRY
|
38 | -1 | 49 |
| 11 |
Brighton
BHA
|
38 | -7 | 48 |
| 12 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
38 | -13 | 48 |
| 13 |
Fulham
FUL
|
38 | -6 | 47 |
How the match unfolded
The Cottagers were on the front foot from the outset, with Joao Palhinha dragging just wide before Martin Dubravka scrambled to save from Andreas Pereira after the midfielder mistimed his initial header.
Newcastle had to wait until the 34th minute for their first attempt when Anthony Gordon's low effort whistled past the post, then the same man shot across the face of goal after twisting in the area.
Rodrigo Muniz passed up a golden chance to give Fulham a deserved half-time lead, pouncing on Schar's error but shooting too close to Dubravka.
Gordon continued to provide Newcastle's primary threat, drawing one sharp stop from Bernd Leno, yet Dubravka had to be alert again on the hour mark as Pereira combined with Muniz and fired goalwards.
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Fulham lost their grip on the game as the second half wore on, although they looked to have escaped when Dan Burn was punished for a foul in the build-up to Schar's goal.
Newcastle quickly came again, and substitute Harvey Barnes' low cross was cleared only as far as Guimaraes, who blasted beyond Leno to move the Magpies to a point off the top six.
Fulham pay for profligacy
Marco Silva had fumed at his side following their display at Forest, but it looked like Eddie Howe would be the man going home frustrated when he admonished his players during a break in play in a one-sided first half.
Fulham had nine attempts before Newcastle's first, yet they failed to take any of them, allowing the visitors to recover and then grab a goal of their own.
For all their recent struggles on the road, this was out of character for 13th-placed Fulham at the Cottage. They have won nine times at home this season and scored three or more in seven of those matches.
Guimaraes makes his mark
Instead, the decisive strike came courtesy of Guimaraes, perhaps their standout performer in a tough encounter.
Guimaraes had more touches, completed more passes and created more chances than any of his team-mates, then had the composure to provide the moment of quality that had previously been missing.
There was talk once more this week of Guimaraes's future, but he proved again why Newcastle will fight so hard to keep him on Tyneside.
Club reports
Fulham report | Newcastle report
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
Newcastle have won their last five Premier League games against Fulham, only against Tottenham Hotspur in December 2008 have they ever had a longer winning run in the competition (six matches), while they’ve won each of their last four such matches against at Craven Cottage – one more than in their previous 12 (W3 L9).
Having won just one of their first 10 Premier League away matches this season (D2 L7), Newcastle have now won three of their last five such matches (L2), keeping their first clean sheet on the road in the league since their 8-0 win over Sheffield United in September 2023.
Fulham have lost consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since December, while they failed to score in the competition for the first time since a goalless draw against Everton in January.
Guimaraes scored his third goal in his last four Premier League away matches, one more than in his previous 28 such matches in the competition.
