Sometimes in the Premier League you just need to win and this was very much a taking care of business type display from Newcastle United.
It was their fifth clean sheet in a row and a third victory in the space of six days following the thrashing of Sheffield United and the Carabao Cup win over Manchester City.
Newcastle’s injury problems are mounting but they continue to gather momentum. After a tough start to the campaign, they have gone five games unbeaten and are once again looking like European contenders.
Burnley were pleasing on the eye, at times, but they do not look ruthless enough to survive in the Premier League and could not live with Newcastle once they went through the gears midway through the first half.
Burnley’s plan appeared to focus on trying to expose Newcastle’s left back, Dan Burn, to the speed of Luca Koleosho, which initially caused the home side some trouble.
Burn was caught out of position once early on, but it was when he slipped to the turf trying to change direction that Burnley were in on goal. Koleosho was able to dash on to the ball and squared for Zeki Amdouni, whose first time shot drew an impressive reaction stop from Nick Pope.
It was a fortunate escape for Howe’s side, who initially found it difficult to establish their authority on the game. What they did do, though, was start to harass Burnley’s players on the ball, rushing them into mistakes and it was a snappy tackle from Kieran Trippier, who pounced a moment of hesitation from Aaron Ramsey, the ball spinning into the path of Miguel Almiron.
The Paraguay international did the rest, cleverly creating the angle for a shot, which he lifted and curled over goalkeeper James Trafford from the edge of the area.
That lifted the crowd and the players in black and white and Alexander Isak should have doubled the lead. Played in by Bruno’s threaded pass through the Burnley defence, the Sweden international’s second touch was too heavy and it enabled Trafford to dive at his feet and smother his shot. Isak put the rebound narrowly wide.
Newcastle had control now and it took a magnificent save from Trafford to deny Elliot Anderson after a lovely, floated cross to the far post from Sean Longstaff was weighted perfectly for a diving header back across goal.
The one goal advantage was not a comfortable scoreline, though and Newcastle kept fluffing their lines in front of goal, Fabian Schar unmarked at the far post from a deflected Bruno cross, but miscontrolled at the precise moment he realised it. Minutes later, a delicious cross from Trippier was missed by Isak when he only needed to stretch out a boot and poke it home.
There was also an injury - two minutes after coming on as a substitute - for midfielder Joelinton which looked like a recurrence of a long standing knee problem. The Brazil international will almost certainly miss the Champions League clash with Paris Saint Germain on Wednesday night.
You could not fault Burnley’s desire to stay in the game, but they made too many individual errors and a loose header from Ameen Al-Dakhil was gathered by Anthony Gordon, who then drew a desperate lunge from the centre back which led to the penalty converted calmly by Isak.
