Newcastle United piled the pressure on Dean Smith’s Norwich City with a dominant display to ensure all three points returned to the north-east with Eddie Howe’s men.
The big talking point before kick-off was Joelinton being pushed forward to his more natural position as a striker, Howe deploying him in the midfield of late.
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He certainly proved his manager right, scoring a quickfire brace late in the first half. He opened the scoring after 35 minutes before doubling his tally six minutes later. Bruno Guimaraes then made it 3-0 just four minutes into the second period.
Rachel Brown-Finnis was talking on Final Score, and had the following to say on the Brazilian (via BBC Sport): “Joelinton is playing with a huge amount of confidence. Effort was never in doubt with him, quality sometimes was. But he’s [got] two sublime finishes today.”
There’s no surprise to see Joelinton getting the majority of the praise and headlines from his performance. SofaScore gave him an 8.4 rating out of 10 – the highest of anyone on the pitch.
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Throughout the game, Joelinton was heavily involved for Howe’s side, having 43 touches of the ball in his 67 minutes before being replaced, as well as his obvious two goals! He also only lost possession seven times in the game – only Dan Burn was as proficient in keeping the ball out of Newcastle’s starters.
After yet another win, Newcastle now find themselves ninth in the table on 43 points. That’s a staggering 15 points clear of the drop zone, highlighting how good a job Howe and his team have done at St James’ Park.
In other news, Chris Wood slammed by journalist