Newcastle United 1-0 West Bromwich Albion

Newcastle produced one of their best displays of the season as they beat West Brom to move out of the Premier League bottom three.

Newcastle also went close through Andros Townsend, whose shot hit the post, while Ben Foster denied Mitrovic.

West Brom's best chance fell to James McClean, whose goal-bound shot was brilliantly blocked by Steven Taylor.

Victory moved the Magpies up to 17th - one point above Norwich in 18th.

Re-live the action from St James' Park

Reaction from the Saturday's other Premier League matches

Townsend gives Magpies extra dimension

It was no surprise that the former Tottenham player came off the St James' Park pitch to a standing ovation in the 88th minute.

The England midfielder produced the sort of effervescent display on his home debut that Magpies fans never saw from £12m fellow winger Florian Thauvin.

He had four shots and produced four key passes - more than any of his team-mates - with his dummy and effort that hit the post the highlight of his afternoon. As a claim for a place in England's Euro 2016 squad, this was the perfect audition.

The slight disappointment for the Magpies was that they scored only once from 19 chances created, after enjoying 69% of possession.

Against a side less lackadaisical than West Brom, they would have been punished.

West Brom can't go down, surely?

We have seen it before - team sits comfortable in mid-table at the turn of the year, eases off the gas and, before you know it, gets dragged into the relegation fight.

Newcastle have first-hand experience of this apocalyptic scenario, but could it befall the Baggies?

They were atrocious today. Had it not been for Foster, who made a brilliant save from Mitrovic, Cheick Tiote having a wonder-goal questionably disallowed and Newcastle's profligacy then the scoreline would have been at least 4-0.

Or perhaps that should be 4-1. What is almost guaranteed when playing Newcastle is that they have defensive lapses.

Aside from Taylor's great block to deny McClean, West Brom did not seriously threaten Rob Elliot's goal until stoppage time when Saido Berahino would have surely scored had fellow substitute Salomon Rondon found him with a simple square ball.

As it is, the Baggies have now failed to win in five games and are six points above the drop-zone.

Man of the match - Andros Townsend (Newcastle)

What the managers said

Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren:

"The first five minutes today, you could see we were really up for this game. For 95 minutes we were relentless in attack, and we should have scored more.

"As a manager you do worry as the game goes on, but you just have to sit down and pray it's just your day.

"Townsend will get better and better, the fitter he gets. When he picks up the ball he's so dangerous. He is so positive and deserved a goal. That was good, and we had a number of heroes today.

"We knew that if we won today we'd be out of the bottom three. Now we'll get players fit over the next few weeks, and I hope we'll get better, stronger, as the season concludes.

"The players have been great - good, attacking football. We've shown what this team is capable of doing, and it's all about doing that consistently."

West Brom boss Tony Pulis:

"Since I have been here, that's our worst performance playing away from home. It could have been more than 1-0. But they are a great group of lads - we'll have to take this on the chin and work this out.

"Only in the last 15 minutes did we have a couple of opportunities to score. The goal was a poor one to concede, and it pushed them on. But we weren't at the races from the beginning.

"Newcastle have got good players, and look at what they have recruited. But like all teams in this league you need a little luck. Today they didn't need luck though - they were better than us, full-stop.

"We know the number of points we have to get, and we need a couple of players back. But every game is tough and there are no easy games in the Premier League."

The stats you need to know

• Newcastle have won back-to-back games at home in the Premier League for the first time since December 2014.
• West Brom have won none of their last seven Premier League away trips (W0 D3 L4).
• Shelvey has recorded as many assists in his four Premier League games with Newcastle as he did in 16 with Swansea this season (two for each side in 20 PL games)
• Newcastle ended a run of nine Premier League games without a clean sheet. It was their first clean sheet in the competition since the start of December.
• West Brom have won just one of their 10 away trips to St James' Park in the Premier League (D2 L7).
• The Baggies have failed to score in three of their last four games in the Premier League.
• Newcastle attempted more shots in this match (19, incl. blocked) than they did in their last two Premier League games combined (18, incl. blocked).

What next?

The Magpies are at Chelsea next Saturday, and the Baggies have an FA Cup replay against Peterborough on Wednesday before they travel to Everton next weekend.