Newcastle 2-1 Hull: two goals in seven, then a long wait

Newcastle United 2-1 Hull City was effectively decided in seven minutes and took another eighty-eight to finish. Joe Willock scored on three minutes and Lewis Hall on seven, both left-footed, both set up by Harvey Barnes. Mohamed-Ali Cho pulled one back on sixty-seven and Hull spent the rest of the afternoon attacking a two-goal lead that had become a one-goal lead.

The shot count tells the story of everything after the seventh minute: Hull twenty-one attempts, Newcastle twelve. Hull lost, and it was their first defeat of the season.

Barnes sets up two inside seven minutes

Willock’s came from the centre of the box, left-footed, on three minutes. Hall’s came from the left side, left-footed, on seven. Barnes assisted both. Newcastle, who had lost 4-1 at Leeds the week before, had the game where they wanted it before the crowd of 52,647 had settled.

It should have been three. In the second minute of first-half stoppage time Newcastle had a penalty, and in the same minute Konstantinos Tzolakis was booked. Yoane Wissa hit it right-footed and Tzolakis saved it in the bottom right corner. Jacob Murphy was booked a minute later.

Cho gives Hull an hour’s worth of hope

Hull had already collected three bookings by half time, Matt Crooks on twenty-nine, Mohamed Belloumi on thirty-nine and Tzolakis in stoppage time, and a fourth arrived on forty-nine for Ryan Giles. It was Belloumi who created the goal: on sixty-seven he set up Cho, who finished left-footed from the centre of the box.

From there Hull kept coming. Twenty-one shots from a side that has spent the season playing without the ball is a lot, and four of them were on target against Newcastle’s five. Newcastle made three saves and held on.

• Joe Willock (Newcastle), 3 minutes: left-footed, assisted by Harvey Barnes
• Lewis Hall (Newcastle), 7 minutes: left-footed, assisted by Harvey Barnes
• Yoane Wissa (Newcastle), 45+2 minutes: penalty saved by Konstantinos Tzolakis
• Mohamed-Ali Cho (Hull City), 67 minutes: left-footed, assisted by Mohamed Belloumi
• Shots: Newcastle 12 (5 on target), Hull City 21 (4 on target)
• Possession: Newcastle 56.2%, Hull City 43.8%

Hull’s unbeaten league run ends at four

Hull came to St James’ Park with eight points from four: a 2-0 win over Manchester United, a 1-0 win at Coventry, a goalless draw with Aston Villa and a 2-2 at Chelsea. They had conceded four goals all season and had not lost. They leave with the same eight points, a first defeat, and the knowledge that they outshot a side in the top half by nine attempts on its own ground.

Newcastle have eight points from five and a goal difference of exactly zero: nine scored, nine conceded. Their season has been two draws at home, a win at Tottenham, a four-goal defeat at Leeds and this. It is the least settled start of anyone in the top half.

Tony Harrington refereed. Hull finished with four yellow cards to Newcastle’s one, and with a goalkeeper who saved a penalty and still lost.

The first seven minutes were the match

Harvey Barnes set up both goals inside seven minutes and Newcastle did not score again. Across the remaining eighty-three they were outshot, and the closest they came to a third was the penalty Tzolakis saved on the stroke of half time.

It is a pattern Newcastle will recognise from an unsettled month. They drew 2-2 at home with Liverpool, won 2-0 at Tottenham, drew 2-2 at home with Bournemouth and were beaten 4-1 at Leeds. Nine scored and nine conceded in five matches is the most volatile record in the top half, and this was the first of the five they have won by a single goal.

Hull keep producing the same evidence. They have had less of the ball than their opponent in every match this season and they have six goals scored and four conceded to show for it. Twenty-one attempts at St James’ Park, against a side that had scored nine in four, is not the afternoon of a team that has just been found out.

Simulate the rest of the Premier League season

Hull have lost once in five and outshot Newcastle at St James’ Park. Newcastle have scored nine and conceded nine. On the Premier League simulator you can take the real table forward and find out which of them is closer to the truth.

• Play the remaining 33 rounds from the real table and the real fixture list
• Run any fixture through the AI match simulator, in tactical view or in the physics arena
• Open the line-up builder for both clubs before you kick off a simulation
• Turn an arena simulation into a vertical video ready to share

"Newcastle scored twice in the opening seven minutes and were outshot twenty-one to twelve across the rest of it."