Newcastle 2 Leicester 1 – Match ratings and comments on all the NUFC players

We asked Jonathan Drape-Comyn to give us his match ratings and player comments after Newcastle 2 Leicester 1.

A massive victory for Eddie Howe and his players.

Bruno Guimaraes the match winner with a goal in each half.

MATCH RATINGS:

Dubravka – 6

Thought he looked a bit slow off his line at times and not confident on the ball.

Couldn’t do anything about their goal of course.

Krafth – 9

Absolutely fantastic.

Did everything spot on.

Couldn’t ask for a better performance from him.

Schar – 6

Again, another one on the ball that filled with me with little confidence today.

I don’t think Leicester offered a lot going forward.

Six might be harsh actually…

Burn – 7

Just edges Schar and put his body on the line at times.

Needs to be careful about getting ‘too confident’ though.

Caught out a few times chasing players and pushing high up.

Targett – 8

Absolutely fantastic.

Two full backs were superb today, up against decent attacking players.

Integral for the last minute winner too.

Bruno – 9

Magic! I thought his overall performance was good too, so this isn’t just for the last minute winner, but that’s the difference a player of that quality gives you.

You couldn’t see Shelvey or Big Joe busting a gut and finishing it in the last minute.

Shelvey – 8

He’s been brilliant lately, especially at home.

Worked his backside off today and tried to put the pressure on at times.

Looks much happier with a quality player like Bruno and a workhorse like Big Joe, next to him.

Joelinton – 7.5

That lad works his absolute backside off. He is everywhere.

Not great on the ball today (how was he ever a centre forward!?) but by god give me Big Joe every day of the week.

If he’s not starting the first game next season then we’ll have had a hell of a transfer window.

Almiron – 7

A marked improvement on his recent displays.

Got off to a very slow start but grew into it.

Worked his backside off though.

ASM – 5

Didn’t happen for him.

One or two decent runs but has to keep going and has to do better.

Wood – 6

Hard time today.

Not his fault I thought though.

Service into him was shocking.

Can’t for the life of me understand why we don’t cross the ball in the air for him?

SUBSTITUTES:

Murphy – 5

Useless when he was on.

Willock – 8

Didn’t do much except play a HUGE hand in the final goal.

Deserves an 8 for that.

Will start midweek I reckon.

Gayle – N/A

Not on long enough to judge.

Stats from BBC Sport:

Newcastle 2 Leicester 1 – Sunday 17 April 2.15pm

Goals:

Leicester:

Lookman 19

Newcastle:

Bruno G 30, 90+5

Possession was Leicester 69% Newcastle 31%

Total shots were Leicester 8 Newcastle 16

Shots on target were Leicester 2 Newcastle 7

Corners were Leicester 5 Newcastle 3

Referee: Jarred Gillett

Crowd: 52,104 (2,400 Leicester)

Newcastle United:

Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Burn, Targett, Shelvey, Guimaraes, Joelinton, Almiron (Murphy 70), Saint-Maximin (Gayle 90+1), Wood (Willock 69)

Unused Subs:

Darlow, Dummett, Longstaff, Ritchie, Fernandez, Lascelles

(Newcastle 2 Leicester 1 – Instant NUFC fan / writer reaction to Sunday afternoon victory – Read HERE)

You can follow Jonathan on Twitter @jonnyinsg