Newcastle United ended Hull City’s unbeaten run with a nervy 2-1 victory at St James’ Park on Saturday.
The visitors gave another decent account of themselves, however, and for all the pre-season pessimism surrounding both clubs, the Magpies and the Tigers are guaranteed to go into the international break in the top half of the Premier League table.
Here are our Scout Notes from Tyneside, featuring stats and graphics from our Match Centre.
NEWCASTLE BOUNCE BACK – JUST ABOUT
Newcastle shrugged off their Gameweek 4 trouncing at Elland Road to go into the international break with a confidence-boosting win.
Confident, though, was not the word you’d use to describe this victory.
The Magpies came hurtling out of the traps with two goals in seven minutes, scored by Joe Willock (£5.0m) and Lewis Hall (£5.2m). Harvey Barnes (£6.1m) set up both.
But for some better final balls, and a missed penalty on the stroke of half-time, the lead could have been larger. Hull had only three shots in the first half.
But, as the rolling xG graphic above shows, Newcastle quickly ran out of steam. Physicality is still very much an issue with this young Magpies side. On Monday, it was physicality in terms of brawn. Here, it was match fitness, with the hosts running out of gas and conceding 19 second-half shots.
Despite Newcastle’s expected goals (xG) tally being swelled by a penalty, Hull still outdid it.
“You saw that after 50, 60 minutes, the legs were getting tired.
“We have a young, young squad and they need to adapt to the physicality of that league, so that you can perform like this over 90 minutes plus additional time. So, that will be also the next step for the upcoming weeks and months.” – Matthias Jaissle
A commendable response to Gameweek 4, then, but still not 100% convincing.
WISSA, PENALTY MISSA
Newcastle had lost all three of last season’s penalty takers over the summer, so the question was over who would step up from 12 yards next.
The answer: Yoane Wissa (£6.2m).
Unfortunately for the striker’s owners in FPL, Wissa saw his first-half spot-kick saved. It wasn’t the worst penalty you’ve ever seen, and the xG on target of 0.92 suggests the Hull ‘keeper deserves credit, but it was a little on the tame side.
Wissa’s historic penalty record of 13/16 is still decent enough, but it remains to be seen if he’ll get the chance to take the next one.
Matthias Jaissle didn’t talk much about the miss after the game, but didn’t sound too critical in this quote:
“He was playing on a high level today. Also sacrificed a lot, worked a lot out of possession for the team, and yeah, missing a penalty, that can happen, but he showed up personality also in the second half.” = Matthias Jaissle on Yoane Wissa
Both Wissa and Mathias Fernandez-Pardo (£6.0m) gained much manager praise for their graft. Work rate doesn’t get you points in FPL, however.
Neither does drifting wide nor dropping deep:
Wissa was, however, a touch away from a tap-in on two occasions. Jacob Murphy‘s (£5.9m) first-half cross was inches from his boot, while Malick Thiaw (£5.0m) needlessly smashed the ball across the six-yard box when a simple square pass would have done. Barnes, now on four attacking returns for 2026/27, was also waiting at point-blank range in both instances.
LIVRAMENTO, STEUR + FERNANDEZ-PARDO INJURY UPDATES
Fernandez-Pardo and the excellent midfield anchor Sean Steur (£4.9m) both hobbled off but Jaissle doesn’t sound too concerned.
“Hopefully, only fatigue and tired legs again, in part due to our brave approach.” – Matthias Jaissle on the exits of Sean Steur and Mathias Fernandez-Pardo
Tino Livramento (£4.9m), however, made it nine injured players ahead of kick-off. Muscle discomfort put paid to his involvement.
“He suffered with some discomfort in the morning from yesterday’s training. So, at the moment, we should have also the results already from the MRI but nothing for now from my side.” – Matthias Jaissle on Tino Livramento
The international break perhaps comes at a good time for the Geordies.
MORE DEFCON JOY AS LEWIS HAULS
Are Newcastle the new defensive contribution (DefCon) kings?
All four of their backline – Lewis Miley (£5.5m) was at right-back – gained DefCon points on Saturday:
Thiaw, Hall and Sven Botman (£5.0m) have all now reached DefCon points in three of their five games, with Botman’s tally of 59 contributions the joint-highest among defenders:
No team, indeed, has made more clearances, blocks or interceptions (CBIs) than Newcastle (240) this season.
DefCons are a real unexpected boon for Hall, who is a danger at the other end, too. He got forward to rifle in Newcastle’s second goal and almost got on the end of a Murphy cross. The left-back was again on corners, too.
HULL FAR FROM DISGRACED AS BELLOUMI IMPRESSES AGAIN
Hull will rue their slow start here as, on the balance of the game, they probably merited a point.
A late onslaught failed to bring about a deserved equaliser, with the Tigers once again far from disgraced. Those pre-season whipping boy predictions have so far failed to materialise.
“We showed already 100 times that we will never surrender there. We have good mentality, good character and we will play till the end. So, unfortunately, just we miss goals.” – Sergej Jakirovic
The top three players for shots in this game are all on the Hull books:
Top of the pile was the impressive Mohamed Belloumi (£5.1m). The winger’s efforts tend to come from distance but none were too far away, either whistling wide or forcing saves. He so very nearly took advantage of a Lukas Hornicek (£5.0m) error, too, only to have a close-range shot smothered.
Belloumi provided a nice assist for substitute Mohamed-Ali Cho (£5.0m) and impressively is up to fourth in the FPL midfielders’ points table. He’s hit 10+ defensive contributions in four of his five starts, too, falling agonisingly short of the required 12 here.
A penalty save helped Konstantinos Tzolakis (£4.6m) move back top of the Fantasy goalkeeper standings, meanwhile.
