Justin Kluivert’s hat-trick saw Bournemouth end Newcastle’s unbeaten run with a 4-1 win at St James’ Park.
Kluivert fired Bournemouth in front with a sixth minute effort after he met Antoine Semenyo’s cutback pass in an energetic start for Bournemouth.
His second goal came from a 44th minute interception on Bruno Guimaraes by Ryan Christie, who found Dango Ouattara to play Kluivert through to roll his second goal into the near-right corner.
Kluivert completed his hat-trick with a clinical on-the-turn strike from Tyler Adams’ pass in the second minute of injury-time.
The Dutch international turned playmaker for Bournemouth’s fourth goal as he teed up Milos Kerkez to add a fourth goal to further seal the win.
Newcastle had equalised through a 25th minute header by Guimaraes from a corner which had been conceded by Christie.
Eddie Howe’s Magpies currently stay fourth in the Premier League table but Bournemouth’s win lifted them up to sixth ahead of Aston Villa’s evening trip to Arsenal.
Unbeaten in their last nine matches in all competitions, Newcastle’s sole threat to themselves was complacency which quickly rose to the surface as Bournemouth immediately sprang out of the traps on the attacking front foot.
That early pressure paid off just six minutes into the game as Semenyo met a forward pass up the left and calmly cut the ball back across the box, which Kluivert calmly rifled on his left foot into the far-bottom right corner to give the Cherries a shock lead after fans made the 354-mile trip overnight to St James’ Park.
Kluivert’s goal however woke Howe’s Magpies from their slumber but they were made to wait until the 21st minute for their first proper chance, as Anthony Gordon’s cutback pass was laid off by Alexander Isak to Guimaraes who teed up Joelinton but the Brazilian curled his shot over the bar.
Newcastle soon restored parity after Christie conceded a 25th minute corner which Lewis Hall whipped into the box, with Guimaraes left unmarked to nod a thumping header into the far-left corner to spark celebrations amongst home fans.
The rest of the first half soon became end-to-end as Joelinton saw a 38th minute shot deflected wide on the turn, whilst Ouattara nodded over for Bournemouth from Lewis Cook’s cross barely a minute later as.
Bournemouth however got back in front in the 44th minute as Guimaraes was dispossessed by Christie, which Ouattara latched onto to tee up Kluivert to rifle into the opposite corner to his first goal.
Newcastle however weren’t done as Sandro Tonali saw a shot blocked just seconds before half-time as tensions continued to sizzle between both teams in a fiery first half.
Bournemouth though kept their cool early in the second half as Dean Huijsen and Illya Zabarnyi saw headers denied from set-pieces.
The Cherries were seemingly out of sight in the 61st minute as Outtara poked David Brooks’ cross into his near-bottom left corner, only for the goal to be disallowed due to the ball having gone out of play during the initial build-up.
Newcastle’s blushes were further spared in the 71st minute as Semenyo’s cutback low cross was flicked towards the right corner by Brooks, only for it to hit the right post and Martin Dubravka made a subsequent clearance to safety.
Bournemouth eventually wrapped up victory in the second minute of injury-time as the ball was played back from the left and across for Adams, who calmly fed Kluivert to smash into the left corner on-the-turn to complete his hat-trick.
Kerkez further compounded Newcastle’s misery in the sixth minute of injury-time with a composed strike into the far-right corner from Kluivert’s pass.
What’s Next?
Newcastle head to rock-bottom Southampton in their next league match on Saturday 25 January at 3pm GMT, ahead of two home games to start February as they face Fulham in a league clash on 1 Feb (3pm) before meeting Arsenal in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on 5 February (8pm).
Bournemouth face two tricky home matches in their next two outings as they host Nottingham Forest at 3pm on 25 January, followed by current league leaders – Liverpool on 1 Feb at 3pm.
Teams
Newcastle: Martin Dubravka, Tino Livramento, Sven Botman (Schar 46′), Dan Burn, Lewis Hall (Trippier 66′), Bruno Guimaraes (Osula 91′), Sandro Tonali, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy (Willock 66′), Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon
Substitutes: Miguel Almiron, Lloyd Kelly, Sean Longstaff, Lewis Miley, William Osula, Fabian Schar, Kieran Trippier, Odysseas Vlachodimos, Joe Willock
Bournemouth: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Lewis Cook, Illya Zabarnyi, Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez, Ryan Christie, Tyler Adams, David Brooks (Jebbison 82′), Justin Kluivert (Winterburn 97′), Antoine Semenyo, Dango Ouattara (Rees-Dottin 97′)
Substitutes: Daniel Adu-Adjei, Matai Akinmboni, Daniel Jebbison, Maxwell Kinsey, Callan McKenna, Remy Rees-Dottin, Zain Silcott-Duberry, Mark Travers, Ben Winterburn
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