Newcastle’s Saudi owners remain unhappy since they bought the club in October. The ‘magpies’ had the opportunity to give the red lantern to Norwich in the duel between the last two classified in the English championship, but the tie (1-1) did not satisfy either team in their struggle to leave the area descent.
Clark sees the red and leaves Newcastle with ten
Eddie Howe made his debut at Saint James’ Park after not being able to direct the first game since taking the Newcastle bench (3-3 against Brentford) after testing positive for Covid-19. And the match could not get worse when in the 9th minute central Ciaran Clark saw a direct red for grabbing Teemu Pukki from behind when he headed alone towards the goal after crashing his clearance in the Finn’s body.
Howe reacted by sacrificing Ryan Fraser to rebuild his defense by bringing in Fede Fernández and Newcastle, who had no longer had possession in the opening minutes, were left at the mercy of the rival. However, paradoxically the ‘magpies’ created more danger by playing with ten against them by lavishing a distant shot, such as Joelinton’s in the 20th minute that went high by little (20′).
Norwich had possession but it was not until late in the second half that they were unable to translate it on occasions, except for a close shot to the post by Christos Tzolis, their most incisive player on the left, which Dubravka blocked (45 + 1 ‘).
Wilson scores 1-0 after a VAR penalty
The game passed without notable actions until in the 60th minute, after a corner, a header from Fede Fernández hit Billy Gilmour on the elbow. The referee, at the request of the VAR, decreed a penalty and Callum Wilson transformed it despite Tim Krul touching the ball.
The Newcastle fans were hopeful with their team at the possibility that this goal was the beginning of their path to salvation but Norwich brought him back to reality in the 79th minute.
Pukki draws and Dubravka avoids the 1-2
Dubravka was not right to clear a cross to the far post and Miguel Almirón from the left put a perfect ball for Pukki to equalize with a spectacular volley with his left foot. It is the fifth league goal for the Finn.
Newcastle was lucky not to be defeated as Norwich finished much better and in discount Pierre Lees-Melou had the 1-2. The Frenchman stole Fabian Schär’s wallet on the wing, went in alone and Dubravka miraculously pulled his shot off with his left foot.
A lesser evil for a Newcastle outnumbered for most of the game and still without winning after 14 games, although the draw also seemed little to Norwich.