Newcastle secured a much-needed three points on New Year’s Day as they went to Stoke and won 1-0.
The Magpies have been struggling recently and have found themselves in an extremely sticky situation. However, the win at the Bet365 Stadium lifts them up to 13th place on the Premier League table.
Jacob Murphy produced some good footwork on the right before swinging the ball across the face of goal for Ayoze Perez to net in the second-half. The goal and the win hands Newcastle back-to-back wins away from home in the Premier League and comes as a huge boost to everyone in and around the club.
Rafa Benitez is sure to be satisfied with an all-important three points. Here are our player ratings.
Karl Darlow - 8
Made a number of good saves to deny Stoke and keep his clean sheet in tact.
DeAndre Yedlin - 7
Got up and down the right well and put his pace to good use.
Jamaal Lascelles - 7
Extremely solid at the back.
Ciaran Clark - 7
Like Lascelles, he was extremely solid. He had to do better with a close-range chance in the first-half though.
Javier Manquillo -6
Didn’t influence proceedings as much as he’d have liked but was steady nonetheless.
Jacob Murphy - 7
Performed well out wide and set up Perez beautifully for the goal.
Jonjo Shelvey - 6
Quiet by his standards but still did his job well.
Mohamed Diame - 7
Diame battled really well and broke up play in the middle for Newcastle.
Matt Ritchie - 6
Quiet but worked relentlessly hard throughout.
Christian Atsu - 6
Atsu didn’t have the desired effect but was energetic throughout.
Ayoze Perez - 7
Showed good instincts to net in the late stages and found good positions throughout.