HE’S A BIT OF AL RIGHT
Miguel winner sends Toon to sixth home win on trot
EDDIE HOWE has got Newcastle chasing a top-half finish – just four months after being prime relegation fodder.
Miguel Almiron scored his first goal of the season to clinch the Geordies’ sixth home win in a row.
The last time they achieved that was under Sir Bobby Robson in the 2003-04 season.
And, despite dipping in the last half-hour and allowing Crystal Palace to dominate, they battled through.
United have now won nine of their last
13 games and are currently the second-best team in the league in 2022.
It’s been an amazing turnaround, from joint bottom when Howe took over – winless and on five points – to pushing for the top 10 now on 40 points.
The victory can only have enthused club chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan – the PIF owners’ money man – who attended the match and will have seen a transformation in the last three months.
And the feel-good factor at Newcastle is making St James’ Park a fortress these days.
Flags, positivity and hope fill the air and Howe’s players are feeding off it. With five wins in a row at home under their belt, Howe’s side were energetic and hungry for more, with Almiron the match-winner.
The Paraguay international was fired up by a bout of shoving with Wilfried Zaha, provoking the crowd to chant his name… and, seconds later, he scored a cracker. Brazil international Bruno Guimaraes collected the ball on the halfway line on his chest from Emil Krafth’s throw-in, then volleyed a wonderful 35-yard ball into Almiron’s path on the right wing. He outpaced Tyrick Mitchell, cut inside and, from a tight angle, curled into the top corner.
It was comfortably his best moment in a Newcastle shirt, and his ninth goal in 86 starts – but up there contending as the club’s goal of the season.
Palace looked flat after their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea, with boss Patrick Vieira making an early substitution as Michael Olise was hooked on 40 minutes.
The Eagles only turned up after an hour and their first real chance was Zaha firing wide on 64 minutes.
Howe (below) wants the Toon to develop into a side that creates, scores more and can command the ball better – and the first 45 minutes was certainly a stride forward. Allan Saint-Maximin was celebrated by the home fans with a flag display showing his number 10, in the Gallowgate End and it pumped him up. He was racing around doing his tricks, including a series of stepovers, which marker Cheikhou Kouyate glared at, looking unimpressed. Newcastle were hanging on at the end, but the first half and the grit of the second could not be faulted.