Lascelles bags winner for second time in a week as Newcastle defeat Stoke

Jamaal Lascelles was Newcastle’s hero for the second time in a week as Rafael Benitez celebrated his return to the dugout with a third successive Premier League victory.

Skipper Lascelles powered home a 68th-minute header to help Newcastle edge out Stoke 2-1, in the process securing a third back-to-back top-flight win for the Magpies for the first time since November 2014.

Christian Atsu had fired the home side ahead after 19 minutes, but Xherdan Shaqiri levelled 14 minutes after the restart to set the stage for Lascelles to repeat his feat at Swansea last Sunday, albeit with the help of goalkeeper Rob Elliot, who produced three excellent saves to deny Shaqiri twice and Mame Biram Diouf.

What they said

Tweet of the match

Costing me a fortune , from his academy days at nffc, it’s always been a fiver a goal ????

— jill lascelles (@JillLascelles) September 16, 2017

Star man – Rob Elliot

23′ – Superb save by Rob Elliot to keep out Shaqiri, who bends a speculative effort towards the top left corner! 1-0. #NUFC

— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) September 16, 2017

Moment of the match

Christian Atsu scored — (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Atsu may score more spectacular goals, but the one he claimed against Stoke capped a fine team effort. Ayoze Perez’s industry had won the ball from Joe Allen and the vision of Mikel Merino and Isaac Hayden to move it on to Matt Ritchie provided him with the opportunity to produce an inviting cross which was not wasted.

Welcome back Rafa

Rafael Benitez was back in the Newcastle dugout — (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez may still be in some discomfort personally after his bout of surgery, but his first afternoon back in the dug-out could hardly have been much better. Welcomed rapturously by the home fans, he saw his team turn in another spirited display to claim a third successive Premier League win.