Fulham beat Newcastle 3-1 and gave the Magpies their first defeat of the season

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

Newcastle, whose solid start to the season ended abruptly, are sixth in the table with ten points after five games, while Marco Silva's Fulham are eighth with eight points after their second win of the season.

“Stick together and be patient at times. We know Newcastle are a really strong team so at times we had to stick together and be patient, get the ball and score,” said Smith Rowe.

“We are happy that we took our chances. In the first few games we had problems taking our chances. That's why we are happy with our three goals. It starts off the pitch. In there it's like a family and we know that we want to do everything for each other, work and win.”

Newcastle briefly celebrated what appeared to be an early lead through Joelinton in the fifth minute, but his goal was ruled offside. Fulham capitalised on the visitors' mistake just 44 seconds later when Adama Traore found Jimenez in the penalty area and the Mexican netted.

Smith Rowe extended Fulham's lead in the 22nd minute when Alex Iwobi played a through ball to the former Arsenal midfielder, whose shot bounced off the hand of goalkeeper Nick Pope before rolling over the line.

Smith Rowe is in top form after several injury-plagued seasons at Fulham.

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

The Magpies started the second half with much more vigour and shortly after the break, Harvey Barnes seized a through ball from Jacob Murphy and finished with a low shot into the far corner.

Howe's men wasted a number of chances to equalise, with Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy and Fabian Schar all coming close. Schar missed a brilliant save when he intercepted a short pass from Fulham keeper Bernd Leno to an unsuspecting Smith Rowe, but his shot from close range went wide of the net.

“It didn't work out for us,” Barnes said of Newcastle's poor first half. “With the ball we weren't good enough and without the ball we weren't up to our level, you can see that in their goals.”

“We needed a reaction (after the break). We got that – at least to some extent, because we didn't get the result we wanted – but there were more promising signs in the second half.”

Nelson, who came on as a substitute just before the end, decided the game in injury time with his first league goal, taking advantage of a defensive error by Newcastle and netting from close range.