Southampton vs Newcastle United. Premier League.
St. Mary's StadiumAttendance31,141.
Southampton 1
- J Bednarek (10th minute)
Newcastle United 3
- A Isak (26th minute pen, 30th minute)
- S Tonali (51st minute)
Southampton 1-3 Newcastle: Alexander Isak scores another two as Magpies climb into top four with comeback win
Report and free match highlights from the Premier League match between Southampton and Newcastle at St Mary's; another two goals from Alexander Isak and one from Sandro Tonali seal comeback win for Eddie Howe's Magpies on the south coast
Saturday 25 January 2025 19:50, UK
Newcastle climbed back into the top four after coming from behind to beat lowly Southampton 3-1 at St Mary's.
Jan Bednarek's header put Saints - who are now 11 points from Premier League safety - in front, but Alexander Isak's double and a third from Sandro Tonali did the job for Eddie Howe's men on the south coast.
Red-hot Isak has now scored 14 goals in his last 12 games in all competitions.
The Magpies had put the pressure on from the off, keen to avenge last week's 4-1 defeat to Bournemouth, but it was Southampton who took the lead against the run of play inside 10 minutes when James Bree's peach of a cross was powerfully headed home by the unmarked Bednarek.
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Saints' first goal at St Mary's since December 4 gave the home crowd and lift, as well as former Toon player Adam Armstrong, who hit one shot at Martin Dubravka and another narrowly over. But he was soon left to rue those misses as Newcastle quickly turned the game on its head.
The visitors were first awarded a penalty after a VAR review, with Joe Aribo adjudged to have made "sufficient contact" with Isak as the pair jostled inside the box, despite referee Sam Barrott having originally awarded a corner. He went to the monitor to confirm the decision, and Isak made no mistake as he rolled his spot-kick into the bottom left corner.
Isak doubled the lead with a cool finish into the opposite corner of the net, courtesy of a beautiful assist from Jacob Murphy, and it could have been three shortly after when Joelinton crashed a shot off the post with Alex McCarthy beaten.
The visitors extended their lead five minutes after the restart - and the third was crafted in such a slick manner; Isak flicked the ball to Anthony Gordon with his shoulder, with Gordon then hitting a first-time ball into the path of Tonali, who arrived from nowhere, drove on and struck low past McCarthy.
Saints dug in and perhaps showed more grit than in previous weeks and months, but that means little without results to go with it - and they were denied the chance to mount a late comeback when Matheus Fernandes' late strike was ruled out by VAR, who judged him to have strayed marginally offside in the build-up.
Juric: It seems everything is going wrong
Southampton manager Ivan Juric:
"I think we gave everything that we had. It's not easy to play against Newcastle, but it wasn't enough.
"It was a crucial moment, the penalty. For me it wasn't a penalty. It was a very good moment for us. We scored the goal, we moved the ball well, and this moment I think changed the game a little bit.
"I just saw after the game and for me it wasn't a penalty.
"We have to say that (with) the second goal, I saw the technical quality of the Newcastle player [Isak], incredible. Sometimes you have to accept that pass, control, shoot, it was really good quality, high quality.
"In this moment it seems everything is going wrong. Even if sometimes we perform well, it's not enough."
Howe: Massive win after Bournemouth thumping
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe:
"I thought it was a massive win for us after last week [vs Bournemouth]. That was really tough to take.
"The performance and the result weren't anywhere near what we have been of late, so I think today's game, especially conceding so early, that was a huge response from the players.
"It would have been a moment that we needed to respond and dig deep and we did. I thought we played really well in their first half.
"I thought we looked creative today. I thought we had a good feel about us. Maybe not so much in the last half hour, but certainly in the first 60 minutes.
"We scored some good goals, could have scored more. It's always going to be a difficult game today.
"Southampton's league position, I think, does tell a lie. I think they're much more competitive than their league position says and we knew it was going to be a tough game."
