Newcastle won their second premiership game in a row for the first time since December 2015 on Sunday when they narrowly beat Swansea City in their own backyard by one goal to zero, all without the presence of Rafa Benitez as he's recovering from an infection he got from an earlier hernia operation. (Get well soon, Rafa!)
Newcastle's lineup saw Jacob Murphy and Jesus Gamez make their first premiership start of the campaign, while Yedlin, Shelvey and Lejeune who had all returned from injuries or a suspension were left on the bench.
Swansea's starting 11 saw their new star loanee Renato Sanches make his Swansea City debut while Wilfred Bony; who has oddly taken the Number 2 shirt, started on the bench.
The first BIG attempt of the game came in the 33rd minute when Ritchie's first time cross beautifully found the head of Joselu who would've made it 1-0 to Newcastle if it weren't for goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański who stretched as far as he could to palm it away from goal and save Swansea from conceding early on.
Two minutes later we had a major penalty appeal as Mikel Merino appeared to be illegally tackled as he ran into the box, but on second inspection via the replay, it became obvious that Merino had dived. In a way, he was lucky it wasn't given as a penalty because if it was, he could've faced a two match ban as punishment.
In the second half Matt Ritchie could've seen red when his Mane-esque high foot on centre-back Alfie Mawson came within inches of hitting the defender's face. The challenge was arguably a straight red but when you see the poor officiating and constant lies issued by the media that Newcastle have had to put up with this season, it can be seen as justice that Matt Ritchie only got away with a booking.
Swansea had the ball under their control for the majority of the second half and their biggest chance to snatch the lead came from ex-Newcastle transfer target Tammy Abraham as he cleverly rounded Rob Elliot before having a shot. Unluckily for him, Jamaal Lascelles was there to quickly clear it off the line, keeping the score level at 0-0.
Later, Mo Diame came on for Isaac Hayden and Swansea's Wilfred Bony came on for Renato Sanches before Ayoze Perez had an an amazing chance to score as he was 1 on 1 in the box, instead he hit the ball straight to the keeper, it's a shame that that's all I expect from him these days when he used to be so great.
With 15 minutes to go, Matt Ritchie perfectly crossed in the ball from a corner before Jamaal Lascelles once again came to Newcastle's rescue as his bullet header blasted the ball into the back of the net to put the toon 1-0 up.
Gayle came on for Joselu in the last few minutes while Swansea once again put the pressure on Newcastle's defense, however they squandered their last chance of the game when Leroy Fer skied a header over the bar from a Sam Clucas corner kick.
After 5 minutes of extra time the game was won for Newcastle with Jamaal Lascelles being the man of the match after a flawless display.
Our next game is on the 16th of September at home to an in-form Stoke City side that have so far beaten Arsenal and drawn 2-2 with Manchester United to end the Red Devil's 100% record this season. It will be tough, but we have a lot of confidence at the moment and are at home so it's certainly a winnable game. If we win, it will be the first time we've won 3 premiership league games in a row since 2014 when we beat Liverpool 1-0 at St.James' Park.