Newcastle take giant step towards safety as Saints left frustrated
- Published
Matthew Howarth, BBC Sport
Newcastle were three points from safety following a 4-0 home defeat to Manchester City in December, but are now in 14th place and 10 clear of third-bottom Burnley.
They are also just four points off Southampton, who slipped to only their second home defeat of the season.
Reluctant to destabilise a team that has yet to lose in the Premier League in 2022, Eddie Howe had exercised caution with Bruno Guimaraes before Thursday's visit to St Mary's, restricting the January signing to just 41 minutes across five cameo appearances.
Operating in central midfield, the 24-year-old's most important contribution came seven minutes after half-time, when he beat Fraser Forster with an outrageous flick that combined power, precision and sheer audacity.
Like Brighton at St James' Park on Saturday, Southampton enjoyed the majority of possession, but failed to trouble Martin Dubravka enough until the latter stages of the contest.
They had taken a deserved 25th-minute lead when Stuart Armstrong nodded home Mohamed Elyounoussi's knock-back via a deflection off Dan Burn.
Che Adams rattled the crossbar with a thunderous first-half volley and Dubravka was the busier of the two goalkeepers late on, but Newcastle held out to take another huge step towards safety.