Fulham beat Newcastle 3-1 to hand Magpies first defeat of season

LONDON :Fulham's Raul Jimenez, Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson all scored in a 3-1 victory over Newcastle United at Craven Cottage on Saturday, giving Eddie Howe's team their first defeat of the Premier League season.

Newcastle, whose solid start to the campaign came to a screeching halt, are sixth in the table on 10 points after five games, while Marco Silva's Fulham are eighth with eight points after their second victory this season.

"Sticking together and staying patient at times, we know Newcastle are a really strong team so we had to sit at times and be patient, get the ball and score," Smith Rowe said.

"Happy we took our chances, first few games we struggled to take our chances, so we're happy with our three goals. It starts off the pitch, it's like a family in there and we know we want to do everything for each other and want to work and want to win."

Newcastle briefly celebrated what they thought was an early lead in the fifth minute through Joelinton but his goal was ruled offside. Fulham capitalised on the visitors' error just 44 seconds later when Adama Traore found Jimenez inside the box and the Mexican fired home.

Smith Rowe extended Fulham's lead in the 22nd minute when Alex Iwobi threaded a pass to the former Arsenal midfielder, whose shot hit the hand of keeper Nick Pope before trickling over the line.

Smith Rowe has been in fine form at Fulham after a couple of injury-plagued seasons.

"I'm really confident at the moment and comfortable with everything. I've got to keep going and keep working hard," he said. "Everyone knows it has been a tough couple of seasons for me, I have to stay fit and I feel good at the moment."

The Magpies kicked off the second half with far more urgency and shortly after the restart