A tense end-to-end game at St James’ Park saw us record our third win of the Premier League campaign, as we downed Fulham 2-1 for all three points.

Jacob Murphy opened the scoring in the 18th minute, beating Bernd Leno at the far post to make it 1-0. But Fulham pressed hard, and Kevin’s introduction swung the game in their favour: Sasa Lukic eventually poking one over the line to make it 1-1.

But after an exceptional ten minute spell to close out the game from us, our own high press was rewarded with a winner: Bruno Guimaraes firing home to make it 2-1 and to enact a measure of revenge for the defeats against Fulham last season.

Here’s what Eddie Howe had to say after a nervy but successful afternoon on Tyneside:

On today’s performance and much-needed win

Following on from our midweek win against Benfica, it was crucial that we didn’t let any momentum slip for today’s game.

And the response from the team in the latter stages, particularly in the buildup to Bruno’s winner, was absolutely vital as we rallied in the last 10 minutes:

“I didn’t think the performance was bad and I’m delighted how we found a way to win. The strongest part of our game was the last 20 minutes.

“We hadn’t started the 2nd half well. We needed to inject a different energy onto the pitch (when I made changes). After that we were the dominant team and you’re just hoping you take one of those chances.

“Late goals don’t just affect the game you’ve won, it affects mood and belief going forward. It can have a big knock-on effect. We’ve had heartbreak the other way. This felt like a massive moment for us”

“We haven’t won enough of those types of games where we’ve been winning, especially at home with the crowd support and the environment that is here, that you’d think we would be winning lots of games from similar situations like today, but we haven’t for whatever reason.”

“So today was a big moment for us. We had a lot of chances, had control of the game, thankfully one fell nicely for Bruno and he tucked it away really well. It’s a priceless goal for us.”

On big impact from the subs

In the past few weeks, Howe has named some of the strongest benches of his tenure as Newcastle manager, and today was no exception. Sandro Tonali, Fabian Schar, Harvey Barnes, Anthony Elanga and Will Osula were each called upon by Howe to change the game following the equaliser.

And changed the game they did: Elanga winning the ball late on and Osula’s driving run that eventually helped Bruno slot the winner home:

“I thought the last 15 minutes we switched up a gear, the subs made a big impact, and yeah delighted to win late.”

“I think today we were able to call on Sandro Tonali, an outstanding player and just recovering from illness, and I thought he made a difference to our midfield, and gave us that dynamism in midfield that we needed at that moment in the game.”

“Harvey’s off the back of scoring two, Will set the goal up. Yeah I think you need that depth, and the ability to win late obviously gives you momentum, and that feeling that you’re never out a game.”

On “animal” Bruno Guimaraes

Bruno Guimaraes has been nothing short of spectacular this season. The captain has popped up with big goals, inspired performances, and true leadership on the pitch that you won’t find much of anywhere else in the Premier League.

On his display and match winning moment, Howe spoke highly of the Brazilian’s quality, character and desire:

“Yeah he is some player, but more than that he’s some person as well, and the two go hand in hand. His enthusiasm, his leadership, his desire to always win, to always be there, to always be present, then you put the player with those qualities and you’ve got some animal on the pitch.”

“Today, he’s popped up with a priceless goal for us. But it was his drive and will to win that is so strong.”

“He’s a big game player. He’s a big moment player. I thought there was a big moment for him with the header, I’m surprised he missed it actually because he’s very very good with his head in those types of situations.”

On avoiding Champions League hangover

All too often, teams playing midweek and across multiple competitions see their form suffer due to the intense schedule of games.

And we so easily could have succumbed to that today, less than four days between hosting Benfica and then playing a side who were a bogey team of ours last year.

Howe has admitted that he is always looking to manage the fixture congestion well, and has commended his players for not letting Tuesday’s win impact today’s performance.

“We’re trying to manage it well, it’ll be a constant challenge for us throughout the season. And I think we know going into the season that the comedown from the Champions League games back into the Premier League, and in games like today, is very difficult.”

“But it’s more experience for the players in just getting used to that and finding a way to win. And I thought it was a good performance today. It wasn’t us at our flying best, but it was definitely a step forward when you consider the Fulham game we had against them last year: they’re difficult opponents, we lost that game, and today we found a way to win.”

“I think that’s the challenge for us: the emotions for the Champions League are just higher for the players, there’s that emotional attachment to the game which is unusual. And then you deal with the fallout when you win or lose, you go back to the Premier League with very little time to prepare.”

“If you’re slightly flat or slightly off in the Premier League, you’re gonna lose. So big mentality challenge for us this season, and that was a really good response from us today because Fulham are a good team.”