For the second time in nine days, Southampton ultimately paid the price for rattling the cage of a side heading for the Champions League. At Arsenal their temerity was at least rewarded with a point, but Newcastle on Sunday weren’t so forgiving.
Forget fourth place, or even third, these marauding Magpies could yet still catch the Gunners to finish runners-up to Manchester City this season, after displaying the kind of ruthless streak that has recently deserted Mikel Arteta’s faltering troops.
Newcastle gave Saints a goal start, but still eased to a 3-1 victory with plenty to spare as they made it eight wins from the last nine. For the record, they are nine points ahead of fifth-placed Liverpool. You can almost hear that Champions League anthem ringing around St James’ Park.
This latest win was down largely, in layman’s terms, Callum Wilson pulling his finger out. The England forward has been forced to rediscover his most lethal form by the continued excellence of £60m club record signing Alexander Isak, and duly responded to his latest unwanted stint of bench-warming by scoring twice for the second successive match to seal a stirring comeback.
“Callum’s all round performance was superb and he had a galvanising effect on the crowd and the group. I’ve managed him for a long time and it’s great to see him get the rewards his performances deserve,” said boss Eddie Howe.
“It was a great response in the second-half, the players did exceptionally well. We didn’t get too desperate in our attempts to score and we’re in a good place because we’re winning. Now we look forward to the challenge posed by Arsenal in our next game.”
Newcastle’s blue-chip sub took his tally for the season to 15, with five in the last three games after poking home a 54th-minute cross from Isak, who highlighted his versatility by causing Southampton all sorts of problems after being switched to the left.
Wilson then pounced on an error from Ainsley Maitland-Niles to round goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and complete the scoring with nine minutes remaining. In between, substitute Theo Walcott helped Newcastle towards a 400th Premier League victory by deflecting a Kieran Trippier delivery into his own net.
Wilson also hit the bar and had another ruled out for offside after a VAR review. A half-decent contribution for his 45 minutes.
“It’s the dream scenario having Callum and Alexander,” Howe added. “Both players know they can’t afford a bad game. It’s healthy competition, they are breathing down each other’s necks but they understand how good each other’s strengths are and there is respect.”
Wilson was brought on at the interval for Anthony Gordon, who still looks short of match fitness four months on from his £40m arrival from Everton, a point underlined when the England Under-21 forward failed to open the scoring on his first home start as he rolled a shot against a post after being put clear early on.
It looked like an even more costly miss four minutes before the interval when Stuart Armstrong rounded off a neat three-man counter-attack after Bruno Guimaraes surrendered possession to Romeo Lavia in his own half.
Such is the strength in depth at Howe’s disposal, it proved to be a false dawn for the Saints, who have crossed swords with Newcastle four times this season and lost on each occasion.
It’s nine games without a win to leave them six points adrift of safety and beleaguered boss Ruben Selles said: “We’re still alive, there are still points to play for and we shall keep fighting to the end. We started well but we know the game lasts for 95 minutes and we needed to be stronger.”
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