Usually on the receiving end of late winners this season, Newcastle United finally got a win of their own in a late 2-1 victory over Fulham.
It was a fourth consecutive defeat for the injury-hit Cottagers.
Here are our Scout Notes from St James’ Park.
WOLTEMADE + GORDON DOSE
Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and above all Nick Woltemade (£7.5m) have attracted quite a bit of Fantasy interest in recent weeks.
Both were blank on Saturday, but were very close to a return. Woltemade cracked the post with a golden opening from a set piece, while Gordon created two enormous chances: Jacob Murphy (£6.1m) where a one-on-one opportunity was turned down and Bruno Guimaraes (£6.5m) nods close up.
One thing worth mentioning is what Gordon has been playing with Then Burns (£5.1m) behind him in recent weeks. While before he was so lively Lewis Hall (£5.2m) or Tino Livramento (£5.0m) rushes past him, he now has the game but the lumbering Burn provides support. It means smart Premier League defenses can double-mark Gordon or trap him wider (the European sides clearly haven’t played on the ball…), limiting his ability to drift upfield. Since returning from suspension in Gameweek 6, he has had just one chance.
The good news: Both Hall and Livramento are back on the grass and should return quite soon.
BRUNO’S BOX THREAT
Woltemade might have had one of his quieter games in front of goal, but he was full of his usual little moves and layoffs.
He is not, like many observers (including Eddie Howe) has noted, a conventional number nine – despite his healthy goal tally.
It is crucial that players get around the German striker, while his magical feet and link-up play allow others to come into the game.
So it was interesting to see Bruno’s results over the past few weeks.
He has shot 10 times in the last three gameweeks, five from inside the area and five from outside. Two of these resulted in goals. Will Howe be instructed to come forward more to play/provide support for Woltemade?
It certainly seems that way:
As well as his missed sitter from Gordon’s cross, he twice shot narrowly wide from the edge of the area before grabbing the 90th minute winner when Bernd Leno (£5.0m) failed to retain a replacement Will Osula‘s (£5.5m) shot.
“I would like to see how he ended up in the box at that moment because there must have been a moment where he had to turn on the burners and foresee a little bit what was going to happen, but that has to do with his motivation.” – Eddie Howe on Bruno Guimaraes’ goal
Murphy jumped on one Calvin Bassey (£4.5m) made a mistake to open the scoring and went one better than Guimaraes, with five shots. The weekly rotation with Anthony Elanga (£6.8 million), however, remains unpleasant.
BOATMAN INJURY
Newcastle lost Sven Botman (£4.9m) to a head injury in the second half, but it looks like the Dutchman will be no doubt for Gameweek 10.
“I think he is doing well. Yes, there is no concussion. It was a cut, but a very good decision by the physio on the field to recommend removing it.” – Eddie Howe about Sven Botman
Malick Thiaw (£4.9m) was again arguably Newcastle’s star at the back, albeit slightly short of DefCon points.
FULHAM LOSS AGAIN – BUT EASIER PRE-ORDER TESTS
Another defeat for the Cottagers, but they’ve had a pretty tough four-match run, and the schedule is now picking up, with favorable fixtures either side of Gameweeks 13-15:
They were also not far away in recent weeks: they lost due to late goals in Newcastle and Bournemouth and went down 1-0 against Arsenal. Injuries didn’t help (especially with the thin team), and neither did two individual errors by Bassey on Saturday.
They were certainly good in the game on Tyneside, ahead on xG and firing until Newcastle’s late attack:
Raul Jimenez (£6.2m) was a handful, accounting for six shots, one of which previously hit the crossbar Now Lukic (£5.0m) nodded in the rebound.
Kevin (£6.0m) also looked lively from the bench – although we said that after his debut against Leeds and he still needs to convince Silva to trust him from the start.
What we would have liked to see from the Fulham boss were the post-match comments Joachim Andersen‘s (£4.5m) current fitness status and the logic behind it Jos Koning‘s (£4.5m) first benching of 2025/26 – physical perhaps against this muscular Newcastle team?
Unfortunately not the Match of the Day interview, the internal chat with club media or quotes from the press conference shed some light on any of these topics. The good news for King is that his replacement, Emile Smith Rowe (£5.7m) was hooked at half-time, although the £4.5m midfielder had to wait until the 75th minute for his debut.
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