Newcastle 2-3 Brentford: Ouattara, Bees feast on skidding Magpies

St. James’ Park, Saturday – Brentford turned up the heat on Eddie Howe with a dramatic 3-2 victory that left Newcastle winless in four straight Premier League outings and sparked a chorus of boos from the home faithful at the final whistle.

Sven Botman’s glancing header on 24 minutes had given the Magpies an early cushion, but defensive lapses proved costly. Vitaly Janelt levelled with a thumping header 13 minutes later, and Igor Thiago drilled home a stoppage-time penalty to send the Bees in 2-1 up at the interval.

Bruno Guimaraes appeared to rescue a point when he slammed home an 79th-minute spot-kick after Michael Kayode felled him, yet parity lasted only seven minutes. Dango Ouattara ghosted in on the left, Kieran Trippier barely tracked the run, and the Burkina Faso winger lashed past Nick Pope to make it 3-2.

The defeat leaves Newcastle 12th on 33 points, five adrift of seventh-placed Brentford, who climbed to 39 and completed a league double over the Magpies after November’s 3-1 success at the Gtech.

Howe’s injury-hit side, already without Anthony Gordon, Joelinton and Fabian Schar, now face a daunting trip to Tottenham on Tuesday before an FA Cup date at Aston Villa next weekend. Brentford, buoyed by back-to-back wins, host Arsenal on Thursday and then visit non-league Macclesfield in the cup on 16 February.

Scorers: Botman 24’, Janelt 37’, Igor Thiago 45+2’ pen, Guimaraes 79’ pen, Ouattara 86’