Sandro Tonali is closing in on Romeo Lavia as if he wishes him harm. Newcastle United’s Italian midfielder is scorching forward at a murderous pace, his intent so malicious that Lavia hesitates — and that hesitation is enough. Tonali has the ball now, it is given swiftly to Bruno Guimaraes, who spreads it wide to the right, where Jacob Murphy does what Jacob Murphy does, spinning an exquisite cross back towards the far post for Tonali to bury it.
Thank goodness, St James’ Park has not succumbed to the horror of goal music, but if it did, the Champions League theme would have been the only choice, although surely it will be ringing out there again soon. Not that anybody would have noticed amid the bedlam and the throb of Newcastle’s grand, old stadium. Despite the ungodly 12pm kick-off time against Chelsea on Sunday, it is one of those force-of-nature occasions when the ground’s foundations shake.
Biggest game of the season? Tonali’s second-minute opener demonstrates neatly what Eddie Howe’s team make of that notion, a standard of endeavour they set early and rarely deviated from, even if it became more awkward than it should have been against Chelsea’s 10 men until Bruno Guimaraes nabbed a late second.
Yet on a glorious spring day, the 2-0 scoreline has its own story to tell, and it says “job done”. Quite firmly.
Newcastle are tuned in, focused, strong.
Tonali celebrates his early goal amid the bedlam (George Wood/Getty Images)
This is how they have been this season in the truly big moments: think Arsenal home and away in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup; think Liverpool at Wembley in the final. Over decades, no club has done yearning and fear and angst better than Newcastle — but this lot reject it, if not quite nervelessly, then steadfastly enough to pick their way through any agitation.
“We’ve become used to the big games,” Howe tells reporters afterwards. “I don’t think that was the case when we first arrived (he was appointed in November 2021) and we slowly built our league position. But having two cup finals, the Champions League experience (last season), has definitely helped us in that respect. Now there’s a much better reaction to the bigger occasions, and no bigger than today. The pressure on us was huge, with the expectation, the crowd.”
In the past, this pressure would have consumed them. Newcastle would have withered. But now? They revel in it.
“We love this type of game,” Guimaraes, the captain, tells The Athletic. “We have a lot of big players here, so it’s a good one for us. My message for the boys (beforehand) was, ‘Of course we won the cup. It was massive for us, but it’s not enough’. I told them, ‘We want more. We want to play Champions League next season’. We have to dream big.”
To put that another way, Newcastle have become an elite team.
They are not yet an elite club — there is work to be done still on infrastructure, sponsorship and squad depth — but for more than half a season they have been playing at the highest level imaginable, earning a first domestic trophy for 70 years and putting a run of form together that has seen them leap from 12th to third in the Premier League. Only new champions Liverpool have won more league matches in that spell.
Bruno Guimaraes capped Newcastle’s win with the second goal in stoppage time at the end (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
Three more points from Newcastle’s final two fixtures — away to Arsenal, and at home against Everton — should be enough for a second appearance in three years among Europe’s elite. The Champions League might begin to feel like home. Their head coach counsels caution, though. “Lots of twists and turns could be around the corner,” Howe says. “We can’t sit back. We have to drive forward. We’re not taking anything for granted.”
That attitude guides his team. Their urgency is no coincidence. Any concerns that a noon kick-off might hamper the atmosphere — Newcastle offered their fans at St James’ a free drink to compensate for having to leave their beds so early on a Sunday morning — were blown away in a fury of noise and resolve.
“We had some statistics about Chelsea and how they start a bit slow and we tried to score first,” Guimaraes says. “I said to the guys that apart from the cup final, this is the most important game. From the beginning, our mentality for this game is that it is a final.”
And so there was Tonali harrying and hassling from the off.
“It was an amazing piece of play from Sandro,” Howe says of that opening goal. “His energy and his legs have been a key part of our game. He has used it mainly for defensive work since he’s changed his position but he’s still got this natural ability to follow the play and he makes a lot of very good forward runs. He regained the ball and is then on the end of another unbelievable Jacob cross. It was a great moment for us.”
Chelsea despair as Tonali wheels away in celebration (George Wood/Getty Images)
It should lead to more, but chances are not taken and Nicolas Jackson’s witless red card for aiming an elbow at Sven Botman — brought back into the team as a third central defender — in the 35th minute actually provides Chelsea with some freedom. Newcastle’s rhythm is disrupted but Nick Pope makes what Howe describes as “two magnificent saves” and Dan Burn heads and clears everything else, looking every inch (and there are many of them) the England international.
Then, at the end, that added security from Guimaraes, whose shot deflects off Malo Gusto and loops in. Tonali got things going by closing down and the rest of them close it out.
This is what great sides do, and Newcastle have become one.
Against the traditional ‘Big Six’, the evidence is irrefutable; at St James’ this season, they have played eight matches with those teams in all competitions, winning six and drawing two, finding the best of themselves when it is most needed. They find a way and that path is leading them back to the Champions League.
“The future is bright for this club,” Guimaraes says.
But the present is pretty special, too.
Additional reporting: Chris Waugh
(Top photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)