NEWCASTLE 3 SAINTS 1
Ayoze Perez’s first Toon hat-trick downs Southampton and steers Rafa Benitez’s side to Premier League safety
The Spaniard reached double figures in England's top-flight for the first time to lift the Magpies up to 12th
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AYOZE PEREZ’S first hat-trick for Newcastle took Rafa Benitez to the edge of Premier League safety.
The Spanish striker’s treble against Southampton means Newcastle are safe if Cardiff lose at home to Liverpool.
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That will mean job done once again for Benitez, who now has his heart set on a new Newcastle contract — providing he can convince owner Mike Ashley to release the funds to make the Geordies competitive again.
Benitez, who has become sick of fighting for survival, said: “The fans and I have the same feelings and we can see the potential and how big this club can be.
“This club is massive and we have to compete with teams like Manchester City.
“I want to compete for something. In terms of wages and transfer fees, we are not competing and we have to compete.
“Today is just to enjoy then in the week we’ll see (about talks).”
Newcastle’s return to winning ways last night has really left the relegation battle down to three — as Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints slug it out with Cardiff and Brighton.
Perez grabbed two goals before half-time and, although a Mario Lemina-inspired fightback briefly rocked Newcastle, the forward headed home No 3 to bring the smiles back to St James’ Park.
Perez said: “My first hat-trick for Newcastle. I feel very happy to get it and help the team to put us in a great position.
“I need to thank my team-mates for the way we are playing and I am very proud of myself.”
But it was not all good news for Toon as £20.7million record buy Miguel Almiron hobbled off in tears after appearing to pull his hamstring in the second half.
Newcastle could have been two-up in the first ten minutes.
EPL_ngn Saturday Roundup 2019-04-20 22:33:21
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Denied a penalty in the early seconds when Salomon Rondon’s flick flew at Maya Yoshida’s arms from close range, Newcastle pinned Southampton in their own end for most of the first half.
Perez and Matt Ritchie both wasted opportunities to test Angus Gunn, striking their efforts off target before the Saints keeper was forced into his first save of the evening by Almiron.
The Paraguayan powered into the box with Josh Sims chasing before firing an ambitious shot across goal which the stopper dived full length to save.
For the remainder of the first half, Southampton were completely overpowered.
They should have been down to ten when James Ward-Prowse cynically brought down Almiron just inside Newcastle’s half on the break from a Saints corner.
Almiron looked to be racing into acres of space with team-mate Rondon just behind when Ward-Prowse body-checked him.
Not many inside St James’ thought Ward-Prowse would get away with a yellow card.
And when it became clear ref Anthony Taylor was not going to send off the Saints ace, pandemonium broke out around fourth official Kevin Friend.
Benitez’s assistant, Mikel Antia, was sent to the stands on Friend’s recommendation before he tried to give Rafa an explanation for the call.
Judging by his reaction, the Newcastle manager was having none of it.
Newcastle went ahead four minutes later when Perez timed his run and shot from Isaac Hayden’s perfect through ball.
His low shot flew through Jan Bednarek’s legs and past Gunn.
Perez added his second of the game and tenth of the season when he got on the end of Rondon’s perfectly weighted cross.
It was West Brom loanee Rondon’s sixth assist this term, the highest at Toon since Moussa Sissoko three years ago.
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Sub Lemina pulled one back with a low finish 14 minutes after the break as a revived Saints threatened to stage a fightback.
But Perez killed off any hope, sealing his hat-trick with his third goal four minutes from time as he nodded in a Matt Ritchie header to wrong-foot Gunn.
Saints boss Hasenhuttl said: “That is as poor as we’ve been since I took over.
“We couldn’t keep the ball and were not aggressive enough. That is not the game we want to play.”
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