41 mins From a position on the left hand touchline midway in the Southampton half, Dan Burn laid the ball back to Bruno Guimaraes who was roughly but legally dispossessed by Romeo Lavia. Carlos Alcaraz collected the ball and set off towards goal through the middle, Sven Botman backing off as he tried to act as a barrier to the man in possession and Kamaldeen Sulemana to his right.

The Argentinean played a short pass to Sulemana whose first time cross into the middle was knocked in from six yards out by the horrible Stuart Armstrong. He celebrated by goading home fans in the Gallowgate. 0-1

Half time: Magpies 0 Saints 1

54 mins Bruno sprayed a pass out to Burn on the left wing just inside the opposition half and he pushed it forward to Alexander Isak, who was afforded space by Lyanco to reach the edge of the box before sending over a low cross that Moussa Djenepo tried and failed to cut out.

The pass arrived at the feet of Callum Wilson, who dispatched a first-time rising shot past Alex McCarthy from eight yards out at the Gallowgate End. 1-1

79 mins Kieran Trippier's flag kick from Strawberry Corner was flicked on by Botman into the six yard area, striking Theo Walcott's boot and flying into the net. Bruno was announced as the scorer in the stadium but it clearly was never his; Schar a more plausible candidate although it didn't touch him en route to goal. 2-1

81 mins Nick Pope's right-footed punt downfield bounced just outside the "D" at the other end of the field. Ainsley Maitland-Niles looked favourite to get the ball but Joe Willock got goal side and crucially pressurised the visiting defender, who got a weak touch on the ball as he tried to clear.

That was pounced upon by Callum Wilson, whose presence seemed to take Jan Bednarek nearby by accident. His first touch took it away from Maitland-Niles, the second saw him jink past McCarthy and the third saw him slot the ball into the net as the retreating Bednarek made a fruitless attempt to reach it on the line. The ultimate poacher's goal 3-1

Full time: Magpies 3 Saints 1

"Will the Arsenal game come too soon? I hope not, no, I hope he'll be available pretty soon, but it's difficult to guarantee that.”

On the absent Allan Saint-Maximin:

"We’re seeing improvements from Maxi. He's been working with us now for a week, he's been working hard with the physiotherapists. He's still not with the sports scientists, there's still a bit for him to do before he's back training, but it’s all positive signs.”

On the absent Jamaal Lascelles:

"He’s picked up a calf injury in the gym: it looks like his season could be over. A really big disappointment for us, because he’s been incredible behind the scenes. It’s a big blow.”

Ruben Selles said:

"We started the game well. We knew what to do to get a good performance and three points here.

"We wanted to have a little bit more possession in the first half but we were fine in the moments and in the transactions we were where we wanted to be.

"In the second half, the game changed a little bit. They brought a tactical variation with Isak on the left-hand side. We tried to compensate that but we really didn't find ourselves during the second half.

"I have been very clear from the beginning, we will stand here until the end and fight for it. Hopefully, we can do it for 90 to 95 minutes in the next game. Today, we really dropped our level in the second half."

"I’m still very positive we can stay up. We knew what to do in the first half but we didn’t react to Isak moving to the side quickly enough and couldn’t connect with each other in the second half. 

"We have to be stronger in difficult moments but we’re still alive. We’ll fight to the very end.

"The aim was to win the game, that is always the aim. We knew that our boys up front had a hard task during the game and we needed to take them off because they ran out of energy.

“We had a plan and thought that with refreshment in the front, we can continue finding spaces and continue with our game plan. It didn’t work and we need to accept that, sometimes this happens in the game.

"We were doing well, we had the plan to apply pressure when we can and keep the ball. When you play against a top-four team it's more difficult to keep it. They became more aggressive and put Isak on the side, we were too late to react to it and we let it go

"Sometimes it is difficult. In the first half, we knew what to do but in the second we didn’t find that connection and that is for all of us to work out. We need to be stronger in those moments."

Newcastle maintained their pursuit of a top four finish with victory over the Premier League's basement side on Sunday - coming from a goal down to round off their sensational week.

Behind to a 41st minute strike from Stuart Armstrong after a rare visit into the United area, half time arrival Callum Wilson took just nine minutes to regain parity amid widespread relief.

Wilson was denied another goal by a lengthy VAR -confirmed offside call on 74 minutes, but within five minutes the Magpies legitimately led 2-1 after a corner ended up in the Saints net via Sven Botman and Theo Walcott - the latter credited with an own goal.

And barely two minutes later it was 3-1, with another predatory effort from Wilson - his fifth in eight days  and United's 13th goal in three games. Incredible.

Yet to claim a hat-trick in black and white, the number nine then shot against the Gallowgate crossbar in the closing seconds - and saw the ball drop down and bounce off the goal frame again. 

Eddie Howe selected ten of the side that finished Thursday's Everton demolition to face the Saints, meaning recalls for Dan Burn, Alexander Isak, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon at the expense of Matt Targett, Wilson, Miggy Almiron and Sean Longstaff - the latter unavailable due to a foot injury.

Winless in their last eight games, Southampton were unsurprisingly on the back foot in the opening stages of the first half; Gordon finding space down the left and supplying a handful of tempting crosses after firing narrowly wide from his side's first attack.

A first Newcastle goal for Gordon looked likely on 19 minutes, when a fine through ball from Isak saw him bear down on goal, only to clip the post with his shot.

United gradually lost their way however, dominating possession but fashioning little - a fierce first time effort from Bruno that flashed past the post a rare moment of genuine danger for the visitors.

Despite that however it still came as something of a shock when a quick counter attack from Carlos Alcaraz ended with Kamaldeen Sulemana centring from the right and Stuart Armstrong tucking it past Pope.

The arrival of Wilson for the second period was expected, Gordon making way - the former Everton man making his first home start for United and show hints of why we were so keen to sign him. 

There's impatience among some sections of the fanbase for Gordon to deliver, but playing the long game with Longstaff, Murphy and Joelinton etc. has been repaid handsomely and there's no reason to think that Howe's positive influence won't pay dividends in the future. It's also worth recalling that Gordon arrived on Tyneside in a fairly poor physical condition and is yet to have a pre-season here.

Wilson's introduction saw Isak take up the left wing role - a position which allowed him to torture his opponents in similar fashion to Thursday's exhibition of trickery. He really is a joy to watch like this.

Normal service was resumed thanks to Wilson's close range finish and the exuberant home crowd roared their heroes on to a tenth home victory this season, thanks to yet another second half resurgence - these team talks must be bloody good. 

The only thing in doubt by the end was the margin of victory; another example of Magpie mayhem ripping the visitors apart and ending the most incredible of weeks on a high note.

Three points maintained our grip on third spot, a home win for Manchester United over Aston Villa keeping the Red Devils on our tail but smothering any chance of a late push by Unai Emery's side.

Liverpool meanwhile similarly elbowed Spurs out of the picture; throwing away a three goal lead only to then summon up an injury time winner at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp's side have winnable games left, but remain nine points behind us.

A trio of memorable wins in eight days leaves Newcastle guaranteed European football at some level next season and within touching distance of a Champions League return after 20 years. Two wins and a draw from our remaining games will earn a top four spot if we avoid defeat to Brighton.

Ahead of everything else though is the mouth-watering prospect of Arsenal's visit here next Sunday. A repeat of last season's home victory over the Gunners would represent a new high for this squad - and there's no reason why that cannot materialise. 

At this moment, frankly, anything seems possible.

Biffa