Newcastle secure vital win over Man United in chase for Premier League top four spot

Magpies up to third in table thanks to goals from Willock and Wilson

Callum Wilson celebrates scoring Newcastle United's second goal against Manchester United. Reuters

Newcastle United secured a superb 2-0 victory over Manchester United to leapfrog their opponents in the race for a Premier League top four spot.

The Red Devils had come out on top when the two teams met in the League Cup final but it was the Magpies who dominated from start to finish at St James' Park on Sunday.

After the likes of Joe Willock, Alexander Isak and Sean Longstaff all missed good chances to open the scoring, it was not until the 65th minute that Eddie Howe's side broke the deadlock.

And it came from Willock after a lovely move involving Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Allan Sain-Maximin before the former Arsenal midfielder headed home.

The three points were sealed two minutes from time when substitute Callum Wilson headed home to send the home crowd wild.

Newcastle are now up to third place, level on 50 points – one more than they collected during the whole of the last campaign – with Man United, but have a significantly better goal difference.

Both sides made early inroads in an enterprising start to the game with Marcus Rashford and Antony menacing in wide positions for the visitors as Isak stretched their defence.

Longstaff miskicked in front of goal after Isak had headed down Kieran Trippier's sixth-minute cross at the end of a flowing counter-attack seconds after Sven Botman had dived in to block as Marcel Sabitzer burst into the Newcastle penalty area.

A fiercely-contested game saw both combatants employ high presses when out of possession with time at a premium for defenders and as Saint-Maximin started to find his feet, it was the home side who began to exert sustained pressure.

David De Gea had to palm away Isak's header from Jacob Murphy's 16th-minute cross with the Spaniard also managing to block Willock's follow-up, and he was grateful to be able to field Saint-Maximin's curling effort in short order.

Murphy blasted a 25th-minute shot over from Bruno Guimaraes' lay-off and United needed the calming influence of the vastly-experienced Raphael Varane to guide them through a testing period.

Longstaff blasted just wide from distance after Saint-Maximin had rolled the ball square for him with seven minutes of the first half to go, and the Frenchman set up Willock two minutes later, but saw him clear the crossbar from much closer range.

Antony was unable to hit the target with a first-time effort from Luke Shaw's corner as a pulsating half drew to a close.

Saint-Maximin continued to torment Diogo Dalot without finding the killer final ball as the second half unfolded, and although Nick Pope had to collect a speculative attempt from Antony, defender Fabian Schar went close from distance with the Magpies pressing once again.

Ten Hag made his move with 28 minutes remaining when he sent on Jadon Sancho and, making his first appearance since February 1, Anthony Martial for Antony and Wout Weghorst, but his side fell behind three minutes later.

Guimaraes ran on to Isak's astute pass and lofted the ball to the far post, where Saint-Maximin headed it back for Willock to turn home from point-blank range.

De Gea produced a superb reaction save to turn substitute Joelinton's header on to the crossbar before Schar's stooping effort came back off the post to keep the visitors in the game, but he was beaten for a second time at the death when Wilson nodded home from Trippier's corner.