Newcastle United came back from 2-0 down to salvage a point against Bournemouth on Saturday, with the Cherries conceding their customary late goal to throw away yet another winning position.

Here are our Scout Notes from the match at St James’ Park.

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BOURNEMOUTH THE BETTER TEAM

Newcastle are unbeaten after three matches, while Bournemouth are still waiting for their first win.

But results can be deceiving at this stage of the season, and even the staunchest Geordie would struggle to mount an argument that Matthias Jaissle’s side was the better team on Saturday.

Newcastle had just two shots on target all match – and scored from both of them.

Only a low-xG stunner from Harvey Barnes (£6.0m) dragged them back into this contest at 0-2 down, while their only ‘big chance’ of the game was a flick-on that came quickly onto Joe Willock‘s (£5.0m) head. The Cherries comfortably kept Newcastle bay until the predictable late concession, when Jacob Ramsey (£4.9m) lashed in after a spot of penalty box pinball.

Bournemouth, by contrast, had other/further opportunities to score. Evanilson (£6.0m) should have found the net when pouncing on a loose pass, while Marcus Tavernier (£6.0m) ought to have added to his early close-range goal when firing tamely at Lukas Hornicek (£5.0m). Justin Kluivert (£6.0m) then hit the post, although the visitors scored from the recycled play anyway when Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) deflected Alex Scott‘s (£6.0m) cross into his own net.

The Cherries ended up 17-8 ahead on shots.

TAVERNIER + SCOTT HAUL AGAIN

Above: Players sorted by shots in Newcastle v Bournemouth

We’ve already mentioned two of Tavernier’s shots but he had a game-high five in all, and has now scored in two of the last three matches.

Scott, meanwhile, has three attacking returns to his name – although these two assists were of the jammy variety. It was his blocked shot that looped up for Tavernier, while there was more than a slice of luck involved for Thiaw’s own-goal.

Both players remained on set pieces for the Cherries, while Scott was agonisingly close to banking DefCon points again:

Above: Alex Scott’s defensive contribution (DC) breakdown by Gameweek

The immediate fixture run is a bit of a deterrent to Bournemouth players, of course, not that all of the below teams are defensively watertight:

And there’s another caveat around Marco Rose’s side…

MIDWEEK COMPETITION INCOMING FOR THE CHERRIES

Midweek football begins for Bournemouth this week, although it’s ‘only’ the Carabao Cup and not the UEFA Europa League.

Still, it marks the start of a gruelling period for the Cherries; they could be playing every midweek – international breaks aside – from now until mid-December:

#GW2 — GW12

🦁 Premier League
🏆 Carabao Cup R2-R4 ( ⚠️ FT’s )
🇪🇺 European midweeks
✈️ International Break(s)😳#theFPLmatrix 💚💛❤️ pic.twitter.com/c1J9CIbuEZ

— Legomané (@Legomane_FPL) August 23, 2026

Bournemouth are an intense, high-octane team, and in the opening three Gameweeks, we’ve seen the late-game wilt that comes with such an effort.

Add in midweek cup action, and the effect could be even more pronounced.

And will Rose now start to rotate more, with the added workload?

Even the Bournemouth manager admitted that the south-coast club were in uncharted territory.

“Now, on Tuesday, we have a cup game and then we start to play every three days. The club is not used to doing it, with a fourth or fifth competition we play, and it’s getting really, really demanding for us.” – Marco Rose

BARNES HELPS NEWCASTLE BUST THE XG AGAIN

Newcastle have wildly exceeded expectations in the first three Gameweeks. Most of the pre-season pessimism has dissipated, as has the slightly OTT talk of a possible relegation battle after the summer exodus.

Still, a bit of context is key here. They’ve been good, but not that good. Tottenham Hotspur could easily have won last week, and Bournemouth could easily have won here. Five points could well have been one.

The Magpies have exceeded their expected goals (xG) tally more than any other club, too:

Above: Teams sorted by xG difference in the first three Gameweeks

Barnes helped inflate that figure with his curling effort, and the winger bagged an assist when his blocked shot fell to Ramsey. No Anthony Gordon (or midweek UEFA action) certainly helps his xMins in 2026/27, although Bazoumana Toure (£5.9m) does linger in the background.

LIVRAMENTO RETURNS + FERNANDEZ-PARDO DEBUT

Owners of Lewis Hall (£5.1m) and Amar Dedic (£4.5m) may have got the jitters when Tino Livramento‘s (£4.9m) name appeared on the teamsheet as a substitute.

Livramento, who pulled out of the England World Cup squad to have surgery, came on for Hall in the 90th minute.

He’s missed the entirety of pre-season, however, and it may be a little while before he’s ready to start a league game. Dedic and Hall have plenty of credit in the bank for now, too, but they’ll have to maintain their levels with a versatile positional rival waiting in the wings.

“All of the lads coming in [were good], but also especially JJ [Ramsey]. He showed character on the pitch not only intensive-wise, being tough in the duels, also in possession, being brave, asking for the balls, having then, the offensive view, committing if he has the ball. So, that was something which helped us a lot today.” – Matthias Jaissle

We had our first glimpse of Matias Fernandez-Pardo (£6.0m), meanwhile, as a second-half substitute. He took up a role up front alongside Yoane Wissa (£6.2m), who dropped a lot deeper in the second half. It was still a solid performance from the DR Congo international, albeit one that ended without a shot to his name.

That deeper role is something to monitor. In Gameweek 1, when starting as a ’10’, both of his shots in the box came after he reverted to centre-forward duty later in the match.

Still, it might be a while before Fernandez-Pardo is ready to start.

“With him, we need to be careful, to manage him well when it comes to the load. He didn’t play 90 minutes for a long, long time, so we need to be smart with that approach.” – Matthias Jaissle on Matias Fernandez-Pardo