Newcastle United falter at home as Fulham complete Premier League double over Magpies with 2-1 win at St James' Park

Where to even begin with this one? I really need to stop voicing my confidence before kick-off as it always backfires.

Newcastle United have now made it two home defeats in a row and while the scoreline wasn't as embarrassing this time around, this one stings more somehow.

In truth, the nerves heading into Wednesday's massive game against Arsenal may just hospitalise me. Arsenal are more than capable of turning over a two-goal deficit and given how Newcastle are playing at home lately, I wouldn't put it past them at all.

We're not sure what happened today but to dust off an old cliche, it was very much a game of two halves with Fulham not managing a shot on target in the first half and Newcastle replicating that feat in the second.

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Jacob Murphy scored on his 200th Newcastle appearance

Jacob Murphy scored at the Gallowgate End for both teams on his 200th appearance for the club. The first of which went into the right net to give Newcastle a much-deserved lead.

It was another one of those ultra-frustrating games to watch as nobody seemed to want to shoot. There was a lot of passing inside the 18-yard box but not a lot of trigger pulling so it was hardly a surprise that Newcastle went in at half time with just the one-goal advantage.

We're still waiting for Newcastle to come out of the tunnel for the second half. We aren't sure who these sleep-walking facsimiles were who took to the pitch, but it wasn't the same team from the first half.

What was that second-half performance?

Fulham piled the pressure on Newcastle in the second half, and just after the hour mark, they got their reward when Raul Jiminez lashed a shot that deflected off the heel of Jacob Murphy and went into the net. Newacstle's official site has credited Jiminez with the goal, and to make ourselves feel better, so shall we, but it probably was an OG. The goal came from a loose ball by Sandro Tonali which is a collector's item in itself, but for us, Murphy could and should have done better. He stood waiting for the ball like a CPU-controlled player on FIFA '98 rather than coming to meet it. The blame has to be shared there.

Rodrigo Muniz grabbed an all-too-easy winner on 82 minutes, getting the slightest of touches onto a cross at the near post to guide the ball beyond Martin Dubravka.

Newcastle kind of woke up for the last 10 minutes, but they were playing fast-paced panic ball and as a result, nothing came off for them. Passes were overhit, and runs went into blind alleys. The whole thing was an absolute shed show.

However, one man in black and white did impress me today, and it'll be interesting to see if Rich agrees with me when he does his player ratings, but Dan Burn was outstanding. He was literally everywhere and absolutely did not deserve to be on the losing side. Well done, BDB.