Burnley vs Newcastle United. Premier League.
Turf Moor.
Report and highlights as Newcastle record a vital first win in eight Premier League games; Allan Saint-Maximin sets up Jacob Murphy before netting a sublime winner as Newcastle move six points clear of relegation zone
Sunday 11 April 2021 19:52, UK
Allan Saint-Maximin's devastating impact from the bench eased Newcastle's relegation fears as he set up one and scored one in a crucial 2-1 win at Burnley.
Steve Bruce's men looked set for another miserable away day when Matej Vydra (18) struck but the Premier League game completely changed with the introduction of Saint-Maximin on 57 minutes.
Five minutes later, Newcastle were 2-1 to the good with the Frenchman providing the assist for a wonderful Jacob Murphy finish (59) before scoring a sensational solo effort (64).
Newcastle had to face a barrage from Burnley, in the form of 12 corners and 21 shots over the course of 90 minutes at Turf Moor, but led by the outstanding Martin Dubravka, the Toon saw out the game to win a vital three points.
The victory takes them six points clear of Fulham, who have also played a game more than Bruce's side.
A Newcastle victory looked unlikely for large parts of the game, with confidence in short supply within Bruce's side having gone seven games without a Premier League win.
Burnley took a deserved lead with 18 minutes gone.
Ciaran Clark's poor header went straight to Ashley Westwood, and when he played the ball forward to Chris Wood, the New Zealand forward beat Clark for pace before pulling it back for Vydra to score his third goal in five matches, having needed the previous 53 outings to reach the same tally.
Newcastle's response wasn't instant but slowly they started to find space down their right, with Murphy getting a bit of joy up against Eric Pieters.
Dwight Gayle, making his 100th league appearance for the Magpies, poked the ball into the net from an offside position - though it was closer than it first appeared, given that Pieters was down on the far side of the pitch.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell had been a spectator for much of the half but made a superb save to parry Gayle's close-range header seven minutes before the break.
From the rebound, James Tarkowski went to boot it clear, catching Sean Longstaff in the head as he did so. VAR Stuart Attwell took a long look but ultimately agreed with referee Anthony Taylor that Tarkowski got to the ball first.
Dubravka, who continuously dealt with dangerous inswinging Burnley corners under his crossbar, was called upon to react quickly to prevent a Paul Dummett own goal.
Dubravka remained busy after the break, tipping over shots from Matt Lowton and Dwight McNeil.
A Burnley second goal looked on the cards but Bruce changed things up, replacing Gayle and Joelinton with Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson, and the game swung in their favour.
Within two minutes of his introduction, the Frenchman, whose season has been interrupted by illness and injury, drew three defenders to him down the right before pulling the ball back for Murphy to fire in an equaliser in emphatic fashion.
Five minutes later, Saint-Maximin went it alone, racing from the halfway line before finding the bottom corner as Ben Mee and Tarkowski dived in very prematurely.
Burnley tried to respond but Newcastle had an added resilience about them. Vydra fired into the side netting and Dubravka had to be alert to punch clear under pressure from Wood.
Saint-Maximin almost helped wrapped up the points on the counter-attack but his pull back for Miguel Almiron was blocked by Tarkowski on the line.
Newcastle should be nowhere near the relegation zone with a player like this on their books. Bruce has been very vocal about how much they've missed the Frenchman this season and he has a point.
Only deemed fit enough to play 30 minutes, that's all he needed to make his mark on this game. Before his arrival, Newcastle were toothless but they quickly went to terrific when he entered the field. Burnley dropped deeper after his arrival, allowing much more space to their opposition which was taken advantage of by Murphy before Saint-Maximin stole the show with a fantastic individual goal.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche: "It was a very dominant performance and it's disappointing that you don't get anything from the game, but that's football.
"You've got to turn the key moments in your favour, which we sort of nearly did but didn't quite see it off.
"The second goal was going to be important and we didn't get that despite creating enough.
"They were two relatively soft goals. The first one we didn't get the blocks in a place where we'd normally deal with it, and the second one we dropped too deep and allowed the lad to show a bit of talent but though I'm disappointed with the result I'm not disappointed in the performance."
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce: "All week the question was, 'were they [Wilson and Saint-Maximin] ready'.
"They've had big injuries, muscle injuries, and it made sense to leave them (out of the starting XI) and see if they could make an impact and they've certainly done that.
"Probably only Allan could have done that, and when you see games like that you see what we have missed. I hope we can keep them both well because we are a different animal with them in the team.
"It's three points towards that magic figure. As I've said all along, it doesn't matter what the other teams do, you've got to get there yourself."
Newcastle host West Ham next Saturday, kick-off 12.30pm, live on Sky Sports. Meanwhile, Burnley have a tricky trip to Manchester United next Sunday, kick-off 4pm, also live on Sky Sports.
