A goal and a crucial goal-line clearance from Jamaal Lascelles was enough to give his Newcastle side the three points against Swansea City.
Swans keeper Fabianski made two fantastic saves from Joselu and Ayoze Perez before conceding from a converted Matt Ritchie corner. However, Ritchie was perhaps lucky to escape a red card before the incident.
Swansea’s best chances came late on from Leroy Fer and Luciano Narsingh but neither could beat Rob Elliot.
The match started off relatively dull with Swansea taking the majority of the possession but failing to test the goalkeeper. It wasn’t until after 26 minutes the game began to liven up after a Ritchie long ball fell to Jacob Murphy who got his lob all wrong.
Joselu was the first to trouble Fabianski as Ritchie’s deflected left-wing cross fell into his path. However, the keeper made a fantastic save to deny the Spaniard’s header.
Then came the first of the controversial decisions of the game as Mikel Merino burst into the box and looked to be clipped by Alfie Mawson. However, a penalty was not given and it was later confirmed that Merino had dived. It is unlikely that Merino will be reprimanded for the incident as the rule states he has to “successfully deceive” the referee.
The incident seemed to spur Swansea into life and they looked the better side just before the break with Ayew testing Elliot and Mawson narrowly missing the target from a corner.
Shortly after half time came the referees biggest decision, a long ball was played into the path of Ritchie who similarly to Sadio Mane against Manchester City, was dangerous with a high foot on Mawson. The only difference was that Ritchie didn’t catch Mawson and the decision was only a yellow.
Tammy Abraham should have opened the scoring after 60 minutes when he rounded the keeper and went to slide the ball home but Lascelles got back for Newcastle with a fantastic last-ditch block.
Perez then had two opportunities to put Newcastle in front. The first ending in a hopeful cross/shot which found nobody. The second coming from a Javier Manquillo through-ball and his low shot was blocked easily by Fabianski.
Then came the goal where Swansea’s zonal marking system was undone as Lascelles got a run on Mawson, won his header with ease and powered it beyond Fabianski leaving him with no chance.
The Swans then began to look desperate as a Leroy Fer header was powered hopelessly over the bar and a shot from Narsingh was blocked by Elliot’s legs with two minutes left.
That was the end of the game as Newcastle picked up their first away win and first back-to-back wins for Newcastle since December 2015.
Player Ratings
Newcastle: Elliot 8, Manquillo 6.5, Clark 7.5, Lascelles 9, Gamez 8, Murphy 6, Merino 8.5, Hayden 6.5, Ritchie 9, Perez 6.5, Joselu 7.
Subs: Atsu 6, Diame 6.5, Gayle 6,
Swansea: Fabianski 8, Naughton 6, Fernandez 6.5, Mawson 6, Olsson 6.5, Sanches 6.5, Clucas 6.5, Fer 6, Carroll 7, Abraham 6, Ayew 6.5.
Subs: Bony 6, Narsingh 6.5.