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FULL-TIME It's all over, and Newcastle claim a deserved win after an excellent performance from Michael Owen. Sunderland did their bit to get back into it, but couldn't find a way through.

90+1 - Not much to report here, but the Newcastle fans have been in full voice for a while after staying quiet for much of the second half.

86 - Wonderful play from Newcastle as Geremi plays a brilliant ball in for Beye, who plays in Barton, whose cross is cleared. Keane has brought Harte on for McShane while young David Edgar is on for the disappointing Enrique.

84 - McShane plays in an awful cross and Niall Quinn looks inconsolable in the stands.

83 - Chopra edges forwards towards the edge of the box to a chorus of boos from the home fans. He's tackled to an almighty cheer.

82 - Sunderland have a chance but Whitehead just dwells on the ball on the edge of the box till the defence come along to take it off him. That's not the urgency you want to see from a captain at this stage.

81 - Owen gets down the left and floats a wonderful ball to the far post, but Collins headsit over and the corner is cleared.

80 - Here's Chopra! The former Newcastle striker makes an appearance in place of Murphy.

79 - Geremi plays in another deep free-kick and it threatens to cause trouble, but Gordon punches it away well.

78 - Richardson does well to win it near the box and while his cross is poor so is Butt's clearance and they have a corner. The corner comes across for Higginbotham, who heads just wide.

76 - Viduka is coming off and 19-year-old Andy Carroll is on. Looks like Keegan thinks the game's safe, too.

75 - Richardson takes it and it's wasted. It's probably safe to gloat again now, Toon fans.

74 - Sunderland have a free-kick just outside the box. Faye was thought to have fouled Jones, but it's hard to see exactly what he's supposed to have done.

72 - Another chance for Sunderland as Reid swing in a deep cross, Jones heads it back and Murphy hits it fiercely, but it's blocked. Reid picks up a yellow for a foul on Owen in the aftermath.

70 - Martins comes off to be replaced by Duff.

68 - Jones is denied! Jones powers a header at Harper but the keeper manages to keep it out. By far Sunderland's best chance. Miller's picked up a yellow for a trip.

68 - Martins is denied! Owen and Martins exchange passes just outside the box, but Gordon manages to stop the shot when the Nigerian goes one-on-one.

67 - Beye charges into the box down the right but he's muscled out.

65 - Geremi swings in a good free-kick after Viduka goes down and Faye connects but fails to find the target. Geremi has been a real mixed bag today - his crosses have been excellent, but his passing has been really poor at times.

62 - Murphy has the chance to put Jones clean through but overhits the pass. Can they summon up some quality for the last third of the game?

61 - Reid strikes a decent long-range effort that just dips slightly too late. Sunderland have been restricted to long-range efforts all day, though, and the likelihood that they'll get two from distance in the last half hour isn't overly high.

58 - There we go: Kieran Richardson's on for Carlos Edwards. That may help things a little as Edwards just didn't get into the game today.

57 - This may be better from Sunderland but it's not going to get them a goal. They just can't break the hosts down, despite Jones' efforts. Keane needs to change it, and Chopra looks like he's itching to get on.

53 - The Sunderland attacks have died down for now. They could make a game of it yet, though, Toon fans, so you may be well advised to keep the "hahaha" and "sunderland will never be a reckonised premiership team" remarks to a minimum just yet.

50 - Reid picks up the short corner and swings one in and Steven Taylor has to stop the header with what may have been a hand. Wasn't really a penalty, but, still, this is better from the visitors.

50 - Sunderland force a corner after Butt deflects away a Whitehead shot from distance.

48 - Jones is still looking a bit isolated up front. Reid chipped one in and he was put under a lot of pressure because he had no support. Newcastle then went down the other end and got the ball to Owen in the box, but they dealt with it eventually this time.

Sunderland get the game back underway - let's see if they can do a bit better this half. From the look of these emails, the Newcastle fans are enjoying their local bragging rights already.

HALF-TIME Well, it's certainly not undeserved, but Sunderland will feel a little hard done by with the nature and timing of the penalty. How often do teams get punished just as they start to improve their game? Roy Keane has some work to do at half-time anyway, that's for sure.

45 +2 - Booking for Murphy as he knocks Owen down as he flies down the wing. He's been excellent today, and nearly got on the end of the free-kick for his hat-trick, too.

45 - GOAL!!! Owen tucks it away, although Gordon got decent contact on it and could easily have stopped it but for the power.

45 - PENALTY TO NEWCASTLE! Owen dinked it over Higginbotham and it hit his arm. A bit harsh, but he did stop Owen right in front of goal.

43 - Sunderland and Miller broke away there but a thumping Barton challenge put paid to that. There are signs Sunderland might ruffle their feathers in the last couple of minutes - maybe the sight of an angry Roy Keane reminded them what's going to happen at half-time.

40 - Roy Keane looks furious with McShane after another piece of sloppy play. "Another 2 from Owen and lets all laugh at Sunderland again!!!" says Daniel Wood, a little harshly. Only one in it still, remember.

39 - Andy Reid tries a long-range effort with the outside of his boot but, despite a bit of swerve, that's easy for Harper.

38 - Newcastle are defending really well here and Nicky Butt is at the heart of it all. Geremi just gave it away with a sloppy pass but when it came to Jones he was swiftly crowded out by three bodies.

36 - Newcastle want a penalty as Owen plays in Martins and McShane bundles him over. To be fair to him, the contact started outside the area and he could do little to avoid taking him down. It's waved away, and that's probably the right decision. "Newcastle sound like they've got it all going," says Steve Jones in Canada and that's a perfectly fair assessment of the game so far.

33 - Martins wins a corner from Nosworthy, and Taylor makes a good effort at getting on the end of it but it's headed away.

31 - Sunderland aren't quite doing enough right now. There's been too much hit-and-hope football and Jones isn't really getting a sniff.

29 - Martins played in down the left and manages to stay onside, but he bizarrely opts for a shot once he gets in the area. The angle was terrible and Owen was in some space. Sunderland get it down the other end and Whitehead fires one over the bar.

27 - Whitehead gets a booking for handball. The first of many? It might just be, although they're actually being fairly well behaved at the moment.

24 - Sunderland take a long free-kick and it goes out for a goal kick. All kinds of predictions coming in from your emails, and the Newcastle fans all fancy Owen to grab more.

23 - Big shout for handball against McShane just outside the area after a frankly terrible pass from Butt. Nothing given though.

22 - Newcastle went close to grabbing goals on a couple of occasions there. First, Martins squeezed it across to Owen, who was tackled at the last second, then a decent cross came in but no one could get a connection. Still 1-0.

20 - Good news for both teams over at Villa Park as Birmingham have lost 5-1. Nothing much in the way of chances at St James' Park right now, but there's still a bit of zip about it.

18 - Miller has tripped Butt and the fans want to see yellow. No need for that just yet - I'm sure we'll see a few cards before the day's out.

16 - Ian Harte is warming up on the touchline. Presumably, someone's injured, but I haven't the foggiest who it might be yet. Thanks to Cheryl for pointing out I needed to update the score: consider it done.

13 - Beye takes a shot from long-range and Gordon pushes it wide. It was a fairly tame effort and was going wide. Meanwhile, Adam Dare is writing my headlines for me: "G-OWEN STRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

10 - Sunderland get it down the other end but the long-range effort is relatively easily dealt with. US Toon fan Ian Scott fears Chopra will come "off the beeeeench to score winning goaaaaaaaaaal!". We'll see.

9 - Geremi takes a free-kick from a little way outside the box and forces a corner. It looked like 2-0 for a second as Paul McShane put it in his own net, but it's ruled out for a push that didn't happen. It probably wasn't a corner in the first place, though, so fair's fair.

8 - Early confidence from the Toon fans as James Montgomery predicts "newcastle to mimic villa's performance today and hammer sunderland 4-0 or 5-0 owen hat trick". It's a bit end-to-end for predictions like that at this stage, chaps.

7 - Martins chases a long ball and Gordon has to come and collect it right on the edge of his area. He stops himself at the very last second.

5 - Sunderland are racing down the other end and have forced a corner. "Should be an exciting encouter in this huge game for both teams," says Shane White and it certainly looks that way right from the off. Sunderland take the corner short and Newcastle clear it for a throw.

4 - GOAL!!! Michael Owen gives Newcastle an early lead with a fine header after a clever run into the box. Geremi had way, way too much time to pick him out though.

3 - Jones uses his power and you can see why the big clubs are showing interest despite his poor goalscoring record. He has a shot but it's deflected.

2 - Nicky Butt makes a great challengebefore turning back into his own box and giving the visitors a go at an early goal. He holds onto it though and McShane gives Owen an early kick.

1 - Newcastle push forwards, with Martins making some good running. In the end, Enrique sends over a poor cross and it's a goal kick for Sunderland.

Kick-off Newcastle get the game underway.

The teams have come out and there's a gladiatorial roar from the crowd. As you'd probably expect, the fans sound like they want to see a bit of passion today, even if Birmingham's capitulation over at Villa Park has made the win even less necessary in relegation terms.

Team news: Newcastle remain unchanged, but Jonny Evans and Phil Bardsley are out for Sunderland, so Danny Higginbotham and Paul McShane come in. Carlos Edwards and Liam Miller are in, too, with Kieran Richardson and Michael Chopra dropped to the bench.

Newcastle team: Harper, Beye, Enrique, Faye, Taylor, Butt, Barton, Geremi, Owen, Martins, Viduka. Subs: Forster, Duff, Smith, Edgar, Carroll.

Sunderland team: Gordon, Nosworthy, McShane, Edwards, Whitehead, Murphy, Miller, Higginbotham, Collins, Jones, Reid. Subs: Fulop, Harte, Richardson, Chopra, Leadbitter.

Get in touch: How do you see today's match going? You can contact me at hackett.robin@gmail.com with any predictions or opinions you may have.

Geremi reckons it's a bigger game than 'El Clasico' but, with both sides looking safe now, it might not quite get the worldwide billing of a Barcelona-Real Madrid game this time around. Still, Sunderland will be eager to pick up the three points that would all but guarantee their Premier League safety and, of course, both sides will be going all out to secure local bragging rights.

Welcome to St James' Park for skysports.com's coverage of today's Premier League encounter between Newcastle and Sunderland.