Alexander Isak seals Newcastle win over Fulham after Mitrovic’s spot of bother

Alexander Isak had become something of an invisible man on Tyneside but Eddie Howe’s £60m Sweden striker jogged a few memories by stepping off the bench to score Newcastle’s 89th minute, close range, winner.

A lengthy injury-induced lay off dictated that this was Isak’s first Premier League appearance since September and, even though he could hardly miss redirecting the fall out from a Kieran Trippier free-kick beyond the excellent, wonderfully defiant, Bernd Leno, his goal proved a timely reminder that the former Real Sociedad forward may yet have a big say in this season’s events.

It might have been different had Fulham’s former Newcastle No 9, Aleksandar Mitrovic not seen a second half penalty disallowed for taking a double touch. But Howe’s Champions League contenders just about deserved three points from a tight, tough, contest that confirmed Marco Silva’s side are no soft touches these days.

Before kick-off, a banner unfurled by home fans in the Leazes End declared “We’re not here to be popular; we’re here to compete” and, despite not being at their best on a day when they lost Bruno Guimarães to a worrying ankle injury, Newcastle did just enough to regain third place, moving ahead of Manchester United on goal difference.

Joelinton was charged with drink-driving last week and is due in court at the end of the month, but that did not prevent Howe from selecting him on the left of Newcastle’s front three, where he enjoyed a robust duel with Kenny Tete.

The left wing is normally Allan Saint-Maximin’s position, but the Frenchman continues to convalesce from his latest injury and is not yet sufficiently fit to start games. Perhaps Saint-Maximin’s initial absence partly explained why Bernd Leno was only fully stretched once in a first half full of fine defending from Fulham’s Issa Diop and Tim Ream.

They permitted Newcastle three first-half shots, the first two falling to Callum Wilson. The England striker prompted a splendidly acrobatic save from Leno after swivelling superbly and shooting right-footed as he concluded a move that had originated with Bobby Decordova-Reid surrendering possession to Fabian Schär.

Suitably encouraged, Wilson turned sharply to brilliantly shrug off Diop, but then let himself down by shooting straight at the goalkeeper. By the time Leno gratefully scooped up Miguel Almirón’s similarly tame effort, the interval was imminent and Silva would have noted that Guimarães, Howe’s key playmaker, was limping heavily after coming off worse in an early challenge with João Palhinha.

The Brazil midfielder did not reappear for the second period, and was replaced with Saint-Maximin as Joelinton dropped deeper.

Fulham’s problem was that their attacking talisman, Mitrovic, was being forced to forage so deep in search of the ball that the former Newcastle centre-forward’s impact on the game was minimal.

Willian – deployed mainly on the right in Silva’s flexible 4-2-3-1 formation – impressed, giving even Dan Burn a few frights as, reprising his Chelsea pomp, he whizzed down the wing.

The increasing frustration etched across Mitrovic’s face as, yet again, Schär and Sven Botman succeeded in second-guessing his latest attempted attacking manoeuvres and emphasised that the chances of the Serb, or any other Fulham player, scoring from open play looked remote.

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Fortunately for the visitors, they were awarded a penalty after a VAR review which confirmed Kieran Trippier had fouled Decordova-Reid as the Fulham forward performed a fancy step-over just inside the box.

Unfortunately for Mitrovic, he slipped as he stepped forward to take the kick and, although the ball ended up eluding Pope and nestling in the back of the net, the “goal” was disallowed for a double touch as the Serb – who does not have the best penalty taking record of late – had kicked it twice.

Earlier Newcastle very nearly scored from a set-piece when Ream was booked for tripping Joelinton and Schär hit the post courtesy of a well-struck free-kick. But their own travails from open play saw Howe replace Joe Willock with Isak as he switched to a front two.

Undeterred, Leno dealt with everything that was subsequently thrown at him as Silva instructed Fulham to pack their defence and attempt to hold on for the point.

Such caution backfired when Isak eventually headed the winner from point-blank range, after Trippier’s cross confounded Diop and Wilson’s flick prefaced choruses of “We’re going to win the League” from an exultant, yet hugely relieved, St James’ Park.