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Fulham 1-4 Newcastle: Miguel Almiron’s brace helps Magpies beat Fulham at Craven Cottage as Nathaniel Chalobah’s early red and Mitrovic injury add to home side’s woes
- Newcastle achieved their biggest win of the season with a 4-1 win over Fulham
- Nathaniel Chalobah was sent off after eight minutes for fouling Sean Longstaff
- Callum Wilson opened the scoring for Eddie Howe’s side at Craven Cottage
- Miguel Almiron scored a brace before Longstaff added fourth place
- Fulham’s Bobby Decordova-Reid added late consolation to Marco Silva .’s squad
- Striker Aleksandar Mitrovic eliminated in the first half with injury for the home team
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As the days go by at the office, this was worse than ‘bad’ for Fulham boss Marco Silva.
After being reduced to ten men in the eighth minute when Nathaniel Chalobah was sent off for a reckless tackle on Sean Longstaff, his team capitulated to a better and hungrier Newcastle.
Goals from Callum Wilson, Longstaff and a brace from Miguel Almiron sealed a 4-1 win, the Magpies’ first on the road this season. A late consolation from Bobby Decordova-Reid did Fulham little good.
Callum Wilson celebrates Newcastle scoring at 11 minutes to give the Magpies the lead
Miguel Almiron scores the first of his two goals in Newcastle’s 4-0 win over Fulham on Saturday
Sean Longstaff (left) celebrates with his Newcastle teammates after scoring their third goal
The deficit would have been greater had it not been for Bernd Leno, who was the only Fulham player to leave the field with any credit. Silva’s side only got a shot on target in the 88th minute and looked defeated from the moment Chalobah left the field.
The midfielder flew into a tackle in the eighth minute, missed all the ball and caught Longstaff with his studs. Referee Darren England initially gave a yellow card but after a VAR review the decision was changed to red.
Justly. It was a reckless, potentially dangerous tackle that could have seriously hurt Longstaff. The Newcastle midfielder got away unscathed, but Fulham didn’t. There was only three minutes between Chalobah’s red card and the opening goal.
Before kick-off, the focus was on Aleksandr Mitrovic and whether he would continue his good form against his old club. It wasn’t his day and an aggravation of the ankle injury he sustained while on international duty saw him withdraw in the 36th minute. Instead, it was another frontman celebrating.
Wilson, back from a five-week absence from injury, should have put Newcastle ahead in the fourth minute when he sent a shot to the post from five yards away. But he was in the right place at the right time to finish on the second question.
A cross from Kieran Trippier to the back post was headed over the goal by Joe Willock and the forward crossed the line to score the fourth time in the Premier League against Fulham.
Nathaniel Chalobah gets to see his marching orders after just eight minutes at Craven Cottage
Chalobah’s tackle was shown a red card after a VAR check from the referee that left Fulham with ten men all afternoon.
Wilson could have scored a hat-trick by the half hour mark when he sent a curling shot just over the bar from the penalty area. But Newcastle didn’t have to wait long.
Almiron is often criticized for missing the easy chances, but his 33 minute volley was a contender for the early goal of the season.
A quick free kick caused Bruno Guimaraes to shoot the ball over Layvin Kurzawa to Almiron, who hit a superb first volley with his left foot into the top corner.
Aleksander Mitrovic was forced out in the first half of the game with an ankle injury for Fulham
Bobby Decordova-Reid scored a late goal but it was nothing more than a consolation for Fulham
Fulham could barely make a pass as Newcastle continued to attack in numbers. Leno did well to keep out a flipped attempt from Willock before going down to save a Jacob Murphy attack. But the Magpies eventually scored a third from the resulting corner.
Leno had made a superb fingertip save to push Dan Burn’s header into the crossbar, but an unmarked Longstaff was there to blast the rebound.
There was still time to make things worse for Fulham before half time, as Kurzawa had to go off with an injury. The hosts didn’t get a single shot in the first half, but things didn’t get much better after the break.
Murphy should have made it 4-0 when he came in from the back post, but Leno made another excellent save to keep the winger’s attempt out.
Newcastle owners were on hand at Craven Cottage to witness their side’s 4-1 win in London
Newcastle players go to the far end to applaud the traveling fans after their win
Almiron thought he had scored his hat-trick when he hit the ball into the top corner after being passed through by Elliot Anderson, but the winger was flagged for offside rightly.
It lasted until the 88th minute, but substitute Neeskens Kebano finally produced Fulham’s first bit of quality.
His inch-perfect cross selected an unmarked De Cordova-Reid near the back post and headed past Nick Pope. Ryan Fraser thought he had scored a fifth for the visitors in stoppage time, but the substitute was flagged for offside.