Fulham ended Newcastle United’s unbeaten start to the Premier League season and recorded their second victory of the campaign, winning 3-1 at Craven Cottage thanks to two goals from their summer signings from Arsenal.
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Raul Jimenez scored the opening goal after five minutes before Emile Smith Rowe doubled Fulham’s lead on 22 minutes.
Newcastle responded inside 28 seconds of the second half, with Harvey Barnes producing a fine finish to halve the deficit.
Both sides had chances in the second half, but substitute Reiss Nelson sealed the three points for the hosts with a goal in added time.
Fulham climb to eighth in the Premier League table, while Newcastle drop to sixth after their first defeat of the season.
How the match unfolded
Shortly after Joelinton had a goal disallowed for Newcastle at one end, the hosts took the lead at the other on five minutes when Jimenez chested down Adama Traore’s cross, and turned to fire a shot low into the net.
Smith Rowe nearly doubled their lead just moments later when he struck an effort onto the top of the crossbar, but he later found the net when Nick Pope was unable to get a strong enough hand on his close-range shot which managed to roll over the line.
Newcastle though were indebted to Pope for denying Traore at his near post with his legs before he leapt across to beat away Joachim Andersen’s long-range effort.
After half-time, Newcastle came out the blocks quickly and Barnes found the bottom corner to help produce a keenly contested second half.
Fulham nearly gifted Newcastle an equaliser when Bernd Leno presented Fabian Schar with the ball from a goal-kick but the defender failed to punish the goalkeeper, shooting wide.
Nelson did make the most of an error from Bruno Guimaraes in added time, firing home into the roof of the net when presented with the chance inside the penalty area.
Ruthless Cottagers show game management
Marco Silva did not want to see a repeat of last weekend when Danny Ings netted a 95th-minute equaliser to deny Fulham a deserved three points against West Ham United.
Fulham were again put in the same position against Newcastle, with a goal advantage heading into the final stages of the match but this time they showed the game management required to keep their opponents at bay, aided by a late Nelson strike.
Silva also kept trust in Jimenez from the start to lead the line over Rodrigo Muniz and that decision paid off almost instantly when he produced a clever turn and precise finish to fire Fulham ahead.
The Mexican looks like he has his confidence back after two goals in successive matches, which will delight Silva as he looks to propel the Cottagers up the table.
Fulham have shown a lack of ruthlessness at times this season, but Smith Rowe managed to double their advantage in the first half to get that crucial second goal.
The quality of the goal will please Silva after Smith Rowe finished a free-flowing move and played a neat one-two with Alex Iwobi.
They then showed a different side to their game in the second half to keep Newcastle at bay to secure the victory and increase the positive mood currently around Craven Cottage.
Howe substitutions nearly pay off again
After an unbeaten start to the season, this was a disappointing afternoon in the capital for Newcastle, who could have gone top of the Premier League table with victory.
The visitors thought they had made the perfect start inside five minutes. Joe Willock was judged offside when he was found inside the penalty area before he laid the ball across to Joelinton to strike home off the underside of the crossbar.
Fulham punished them just 44 seconds later when Jimenez scored the opening goal.
The hosts’ pressure continued, and Newcastle struggled to keep possession and soon found themselves 2-0 behind when Pope should have kept out Smith Rowe’s effort.
Like in previous matches, Eddie Howe looked to his bench at half-time as Jacob Murphy and Lewis Hall replaced Lloyd Kelly and Willock.
It had the desired effect as Murphy assisted Barnes to score early in the second half.
Newcastle did have chances to equalise as Leno denied Anthony Gordon and Murphy curled a shot over from a good position before Schar failed to capitalise on a mistake from the goalkeeper.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
16 | +21 | 39 |
| 2 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
17 | +18 | 35 |
| 3 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
17 | +18 | 33 |
| 4 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
17 | +4 | 31 |
| 5 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
17 | +6 | 28 |
| 6 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
17 | 0 | 28 |
| 7 |
Man City
MCI
|
17 | +4 | 27 |
| 8 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
17 | +6 | 26 |
| 9 |
Fulham
FUL
|
17 | +2 | 25 |
Club reports
Fulham report | Newcastle report
What managers said
Marco Silva: "It was very good performance from us. Looking at all over the pitch and the whole game, I think we were the team who deserved to win the game, clearly."
Eddie Howe: "I think we did, it was a slow start and the first goal was a killer blow for us. It was a poor goal for us to concede, we need to do much better."
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
None of Fulham’s 17 Premier League home games against Newcastle have been drawn (10 Fulham wins, Newcastle – 7) – no exact fixture has been played more often in the competition without a single draw.
Jacob Murphy became the first half time substitute to assist a goal in the opening minute of the second half in the Premier League since Marc Albrighton for Leicester against Watford in May 2022, with that goal also being scored by Harvey Barnes.
Fulham are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (W2 D2), their longest without defeat since February 2023 (also 4 games). They’ve never been on a longer such run under Marco Silva in the competition.
Fulham have gained their first win against Newcastle in the Premier League since March 2014, having failed to defeat the Magpies in any of their last eight in the competition (D2 L6).
