Newcastle United moved back into the league’s top four after stretching away to a 3-1 win over Southampton at St Mary’s.
Despite going behind early to Jan Bednarek’s header, a first-half brace by Alexander Isak and a third from the galloping Sandro Tonali gave the visitors a comfortable victory.
There could have been more. Jacob Murphy, fresh from adding another assist to his club-leading tally, hit the post in the second half, while Matheus Fernandes had a late Southampton goal disallowed.
At full time, substitute Miguel Almiron went over to the Newcastle supporters to clap goodbye, in what could have been his final appearance for the club ahead of a possible move to Atlanta United.
Here The Athletic’s George Caulkin and Jacob Whitehead analyse the key talking points.
What does this win mean?
Newcastle are a good team — official.
This would appear to be a statement of the obvious given their excellent recent form — their home defeat to Bournemouth notwithstanding — and their position in the table, but Southampton represented a decent test of Newcastle’s credentials.
The Bournemouth performance was painful, but all teams lose. The best manage to brush upsets off and respond immediately with minimum fuss, which is the message Howe had been drilling into his players this week.
At times this season, Newcastle have veered between brilliant and mediocre. Until their big reset after Brentford on December 7, they were a byword for inconsistency.
Bottom of the Premier League, five league defeats in a row, the lowest goalscorers in the division, the most goals conceded: Southampton was the kind of opportunity good teams do not ignore. That was Howe’s argument on the training pitch, urging his players to prove that Bournemouth was a blip.
He reiterated it pre-match. “This is a massive game for us,” he said.
Job done. Test passed. Newcastle have shown they are good enough to get to where they are and good enough to stay there.
George Caulkin
How did Newcastle recover from a bad start?
Newcastle ended their last match chastened, slumping to a 4-1 defeat at home to Bournemouth which included two goals in added time. The defeat ended a nine-match unbeaten run, but the Southampton game was an opportunity for Newcastle to prove their class: if they are as good as they want to be, they need to put away poor teams.
Instead, when Jan Bednarek headed bottom-of-the-league Southampton into the lead after just 10 minutes, it briefly appeared like the passive, tired performance of last weekend had carried through.
Pre-match, Eddie Howe had spoken of a desire to be proactive rather than reactive — but Newcastle’s defence were flat on their heels as Bednarek rose above Tino Livramento to plant a header past Martin Dubravka. A lack of midfield runners — with Southampton’s attackers able to attack man-marking from James Bree’s cross — raised further questions.
Bednarek heads Southampton ahead (Photo: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
However, that midfield began to assert dominance, sparking Newcastle’s revival — while Ivan Juric’s 3-5-2 gave his wing-backs space, which they exploited for the goal — Joe Aribo and Lesley Ugochukwu were overmatched by Newcastle’s central trio.
That afforded Newcastle’s centre-backs control. Howe had brought Fabian Schar straight back into the team as the right-sided centre-back, with Dan Burn keeping his place over Sven Botman on the left.
As the game wore on, they were able to pick through Southampton’s press with some of the purpose that Howe had been asking for.
Jacob Whitehead
What did Isak do this time?
There was a hop, a skip and a jump-start for Newcastle.
Alexander Isak’s penalty was delivered with the swagger of a centre-forward bang in form, precisely the jolt of confidence his team craved after Southampton’s ugly opener.
Isak had won it in the first place, running on to a pass from Bruno Guimaraes in the 22nd minute and caught by Joe Aribo, who planted his left leg in front of the Sweden international as they stretched for the ball.
Not given on the field, it was checked at length by the Video Assistant Referee before Samuel Barrott, the referee, was asked to review the incident on a pitch-side monitor.
The wait was interminable, but Isak was unconcerned. Four minutes later, he ran forward, stopped, started again and shot low and to the left to make it 1-1.
Newcastle were back in it and moving through the gears. By the 29th minute, they were ahead and this time the quality was sumptuous: a threaded through-ball from assist-king Jacob Murphy and a full-pelt Isak taking one touch inside and then finishing with his second.
Oh man that touch and finish from Isak 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #SOUNEW
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) January 25, 2025
Isak’s statistics speak for themselves: 19 goals in 25 appearances in all competitions this season and 14 in his last 12. He is a game-changer supreme.
George Caulkin
Which move did Newcastle get right (eventually)?
Southampton cannot say they were not warned. Midway through the first half, Isak dropped deep and played a lateral pass to take two Southampton midfielders out of the game — and Anthony Gordon screamed through a huge gap between the centre-backs, headed straight for goal.
In the event, he timed his run fractionally wrong, going too early and being caught offside, denying him a one-vs-one chance. But Southampton did not learn.
After 51 minutes, Gordon became one of the link players — after Isak dropped deep to win his duel, flicking it on to the England winger, Tonali made the same third-man run — and again, the centre of Southampton’s three-man defence was wide open.
Tonali’s finish was brutal and unerring, so cleanly in the corner that it knocked over camera equipment hidden in the back of the goal. It has been a long 17 months since he scored his last Premier League goal, but for such an energetic and vertical player, these runs should net him many more.
Jacob Whitehead
What next for Newcastle?
Saturday, February 1: Fulham (H), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET
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(Photo: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images))
