It is safe to assume Callum Wilson does not regard April as the cruellest month. At the end of March the England striker looked thoroughly out of sorts but eight goals in seven games over the past four weeks have confirmed that a World Cup slump exacerbated by a lingering virus is well and truly over.
Wilson’s introduction as a half-time substitute transformed a match which began badly for Newcastle but concluded with the home No 9 having scored twice and Eddie Howe’s third-placed side apparently set fair for the Champions League. Southampton, meanwhile, remain well and truly stuck to the bottom of the Premier League.
“What an impact from Callum; he changed the game for us,” said Howe. “Callum doesn’t always start but he lives to score goals and he’s a brilliant player to have in your squad. He was exceptional today. We looked a bit tired, a bit off, a bit flat in the first half but we regrouped, tweaked a couple of things and blew Southampton away in the second half.”
It was the sort of grey, wet, rather chilly, Tyneside day which felt more like November than the eve of May but, initially, the weather proved the least of Howe’s problems.
Newcastle may have scored 10 goals in their previous two games against Tottenham and Everton but they were a goal down at half-time after Stuart Armstrong lashed Kamaldeen Sulemana’s low cross beyond Nick Pope from six yards at the end of a smart counterattack.
Carlos Alcaraz’s advances had caused Howe’s team sporadic problems from kick-off and, following Bruno Guimarães’s dispossession in the wake of a brilliant Roméo Lavia tackle, Alcaraz played a prominent role in initiating that visiting break. Albeit temporarily, relegation no longer necessarily seemed inevitable for Rubén Sellés’s side after all.
Wherever Southampton end up it will be no surprise if Lavia remains in the Premier League. The midfielder was Sellés’s best player and it was not his fault that his departmental sidekicks were ultimately overwhelmed by Joe Willock and co.
Very shortly before that breakthrough Howe had instructed his wide forwards, Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon to swap wings in a rejig also involving Joelinton and Willock exchanging midfield positions.
Whether or not this revamp prompted the “systems failure” prefacing Southampton’s goal, Howe restored Murphy to the right at the outset of the second half while also replacing Gordon with Wilson.
Although Gordon had frequently enjoyed waltzing past Lyanco, the former Everton winger’s final ball consistently let him down; not to mention irritated certain teammates. Such frustration was only compounded when an unmarked Gordon missed Newcastle’s best chance of the first half, directing a shot against the outside of a post after being sent clear courtesy of Alexander Isak’s fabulous through ball.
With Wilson introduced at centre-forward Isak switched to the left where the Swede’s devastating change of pace and intelligent crosses proceeded to unnerve a hitherto impressively resilient and ambitious Southampton.
It was perhaps no coincidence that it was Isak’s low cross which precipitated the onrushing Wilson flicking the equaliser beyond Alex McCarthy with the accomplishment of a striker scoring his seventh goal in seven games. Wilson had another “goal” disallowed for offside following his connection with another Isak cross and, then, a lengthy VAR review before an own goal from the substitute Theo Walcott after Sven Botman had nodded a Kieran Trippier corner on gave Newcastle the lead.
By now though Southampton were dropping dangerously deep and Newcastle seemed to be limbering up nicely for next Sunday’s date with title-challenging Arsenal here. Sure enough when the increasingly influential Willock forced Ainsley Maitland-Niles into forfeiting possession Wilson delighted in pouncing and rounding McCarthy before sliding his 15th goal of the season into the empty net. In stoppage time alone the crossbar twice came between Wilson and the completion of a hat-trick.
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After seeing his side collect just one point from six games in the past month, April has proved particularly cruel for Sellés. “I’m still very positive we can stay up,” said Southampton’s defiant interim manager, whose side travel to Nottingham Forest for a potentially definitive relegation six pointer next Monday .
“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.”
