Full Time
Newcastle United came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Bournemouth at St James' Park. Bournemouth looked to be cruising to an away win before Newcastle clawed their way level - the kind of collapse that will sting more the longer the Cherries think about it. The point keeps Newcastle unbeaten after three games and moves them up to 6th on 5 points. Bournemouth remain winless and slip to 15th, still searching for their first three points of the season.
Pre-match Talking Points
Match talking points will appear here before kick-off.
Team Talking Points
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1Newcastle's last game was a 1-1 draw at Fulham. Jacob Murphy scored a 25-yard screamer, and it lasted all of three minutes before Rodrigo Muniz equalised. Muniz hadn't scored in 15 months, which made it extra annoying.
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2They also had a Dan Burn goal ruled out after VAR spotted a foul by Yoane Wissa in the build-up. Manager Matthias Jaissle called it 'soft' and said his side did enough to win. Agree that it was soft and you'll make a friend for life.
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3Jaissle also called the draw 'a step in the right direction after the last performance'. That tells you the last performance wasn't great. Newcastle sit roughly mid-table on 12 points from 10 games, about four points clear of the drop zone and four off the top six.
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4That puts them in a very Premier League kind of limbo: not in trouble, not in contention. A couple of wins and the talk is Europe. A couple of defeats and people start looking nervously over their shoulders.
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5The first game back after the break is a big one. Leaders Arsenal visit St James' Park on Saturday 21 November. A win there would change the mood around the club overnight, and fans know it.
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Top thing to say down the pub
If VAR hadn't chalked off Dan Burn's goal at Fulham, we'd be talking about the top six, not 'a step in the right direction'.
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Avoid saying
"Newcastle are the richest club in the world, they should be winning everything." Fans have heard it a thousand times. Spending rules mean the money hasn't turned into the trophy-a-season machine people imagine, so you'll get a long lecture on profit and sustainability.
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1Bournemouth are the form team nobody's talking about: last weekend's 2-1 win at Ipswich made it eight wins in a row in all competitions. Even better, it's four straight league wins – something they hadn't managed in a single season since December 2023.
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2It's a proper turnaround story. Marco Rose's side didn't win any of their first six Premier League games (three draws, three defeats), and now they're up to seventh on 15 points, just three behind the top four. Drop 'they were winless after six games, you know' and watch people do the maths.
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3Striker Evanilson is red hot. He scored inside five minutes at Ipswich after nicking the ball off the goalkeeper and rolling it into an empty net, and that's now five Premier League games in a row with a goal – the first Bournemouth player ever to do that.
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4The bigger clubs are circling. Arsenal are reportedly keen on young forward Eli Junior Kroupi, although the word is Bournemouth have no intention of letting him go before the summer. It's the price of being good at spotting talent – everyone else eventually notices.
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5There's an England angle too: defender James Hill was called up to the senior squad this week as cover after Ezri Konsa dropped out of training. Not bad for a club whose matchday squad still costs a fraction of the Premier League's big spenders.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Eight wins on the bounce and Evanilson can't stop scoring – Bournemouth have gone from 'winless after six' to sniffing round the top four in about six weeks.
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Avoid saying
"Bournemouth are just a nice little seaside club" – they've won eight straight and are three points off the Champions League places. Patronise them now and you'll look daft by Christmas.