Missed Opportunity: Newcastle United's First Loss Prevents Them From Topping the Premier League as Fulham Secures 3-1 Victory.

Newcastle United's dreams of taking the top spot in the Premier League were shattered as their undefeated streak this season was broken with a disappointing 3-1 defeat at the hands of Fulham.

The home side were deservedly 2-0 up at half-time after a dominant first-half showing in the Craven Cottage sunshine, taking an early lead thanks to Raul Jimenez's excellent control and finish, just seconds after Joelinton had seen his effort ruled out for offside against Joe Willock.

The Cottagers doubled their advantage after 22 minutes as Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith-Rowe continued their understanding from their time together at Arsenal as the duo exchanged passes down the left, before the England international surprised Nick Pope with a first-time shot that the Newcastle No 1 somehow let squirm through his grasp.

Fulham's new club-record signing Smith-Rowe shone again in the first period and was unlucky not to score again when his rasping drive beat Pope, but not the bar, but the hosts did not get the third goal their pressure merited, allowing Newcastle back into the contest at the start of the second half.

In fact, right from the restart Jacob Murphy, on as one of two half-time substitutions as Eddie Howe rung the changes, found Harvey Barnes in space on the edge of the area, with the forward - who changed last Sunday's game at Wolves when he came on - finding the far corner with a low shot.

Fulham really should have ended the game on the counter as Newcastle went all out in search of an equaliser, with Pope pulling off one extraordinary close-range reaction stop to deny Iwobi, before substitute Reiss Nelson did add a late third after another mistake, this time from skipper Bruno Guimaraes.

Story of the match in stats...

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