Bruno Guimarães was sprinting towards a euphoric away end in the 93rd minute to celebrate a second Premier League away win of the season, while the home supporters searched for an exit. All the glory was Newcastle’s, the points that took them up to 10th secured and the performance did not matter. Burnley deserved more but once again were left with nothing, except a feeling of resignation to their fate.
Within seven minutes Joelinton and Yoane Wissa had given the visitors a two-goal lead, and Newcastle’s travelling woes looked a distant memory. Considering Burnley’s own recent form a comeback looked highly unlikely but Eddie Howe’s side are fragile, not knowing what to do with a lead nor how to control a game against a team who have collected two points from 10 games. Josh Laurent’s volley ignited hope, a flame that was finally extinguished by Guimarães in injury time.
“A massive win for us, I don’t think it really matters tonight so much in terms of how we did it, we just needed to do it,” Howe said. “I can’t praise the players enough for how we battled through, it was never going to be easy and that second half was a massive 45 minutes for us, we needed to get over the line and full credit to the players for how they saw the game out.”
Sixty-five seconds in and Turf Moor was deflated, Kyle Walker caught out of position and Anthony Gordon allowed to make up for his poor decision-making in the Boxing Day loss at Old Trafford. The winger had the time and space to find Joelinton, who produced a fine finish for his first Premier League goal in a year.
Second-bottom Burnley needed to regroup but an inability to clear their lines allowed Wissa to double the lead. The situation was ominous for a side who had not won in two months and Newcastle were confident, getting five shots on target in the opening quarter of an hour.
Howe’s side are, however, brittle away from home. They did not know how to control proceedings and invited pressure. Marcus Edwards was productive in a central role, running at the defence, who could only backtrack and hope for the best. The fact it took a volley from a centre-back to half the deficit did not matter but the failure to find an equaliser did highlight problems in front of goal.
Newcastle possessed the extra quality, and Wissa and Harvey Barnes had fine chances to extend the lead before the break but poor finishing and good goalkeeping frustrated them. nly Fabian Schär on the line prevented Edwards equalising. It was an entertaining game because neither side knew how to control it.
It was imperative that Burnley began the second half with intent to test the Newcastle mindset but their bark is worse than their bite. Armando Broja winning a physical battle with Malick Thiaw and Loum Tchaouna testing Nick Pope were further indications that Burnley and their now vociferous fans were up for the fight.
Burnley dominated the second half and Newcastle struggled to cope, needing to battle to hold on. Edwards drove past Lewis Hall into the box before firing at Pope but his leg was strong enough. The goalkeeper was almost embarrassed by a Lucas Pires cross and a Laurent header hit the bar but somehow Newcastle clung on until a defensive mix-up, ended the fight and gifted Guimarães the final sucker punch.
“I’m trying to highlight the positives in a time of adversity and hardship,” Parker said. “We’re in a dogfight we’ll remain in for the majority of this season. You can see teams wither away or lack energy, commitment or desire but there’s something in this group that is elite.”
