Bruno Guimarães excels against Brentford to highlight Newcastle’s rise

What a difference a year makes. Newcastle celebrated the first anniversary of their transformative Saudi Arabian-led takeover by not merely breaking into the top six but suggesting that European qualification is eminently feasible.

With Bruno Guimarães and Miguel Almirón excelling, Brentford were left looking relieved not to have lost by a greater margin in a fixture light years removed from its equivalent last November.

That 3-3 draw marked Eddie Howe’s first as manager of a side apparently relegation-bound but he tested positive for Covid-19 on the game’s eve and was forced to watch the action while isolating in a Tyneside hotel room.

This proved a happier occasion. “It was a brilliant anniversary,” he said. “The atmosphere was incredible.”

At times the fans might have been watching Kevin Keegan’s Entertainers of 1990s title-challenging vintage or perhaps Sir Bobby Robson’s Champions League class of the early 2000s. “We’ve got a lot to prove,” said Howe. “But, yes, the intention, the challenge, is to be as entertaining as them.”

Eleven months on from Brentford’s previous visit, Newcastle have spent £210m on transfers while several longer-standing players looked reborn under Howe’s tutelage. Almirón ranks foremost among them and it did not take him long to cut in from the right and test David Raya’s reflexes with a rising shot.

Although a VAR review ensured Bryan Mbeumo had a goal disallowed for an offside against the former Newcastle striker Ivan Toney, it simply seemed to jolt the initially slightly dozy hosts into the ascendant.

Guimarães is a midfielder rarely eclipsed for long and, sure enough, the Brazilian – who most definitely does not need his new bleach-blond hair in order to catch supporters’ eyes – placed