EDDIE HOWE’S family film night will be much more enjoyable this week.
The Toon boss spent last Saturday night watching back their Bournemouth horror show.
But everyone will be happy to gather round and watch this clinical south coast display which sent the Magpies back into the top four and had Alexander Isak cast as the leading man.
Newcastle’s Swedish wonder won a penalty and scored twice to get the visitors ahead after Jan Bednarek’s shock Saints opener.
Sandro Tonali, scoring his first Premier League goals since his 10-month gambling ban, rounded off the afternoon.
Howe made just one change from last weekend’s 4-1 defeat, with Fabian Schar coming in for Sven Botman.
Southampton have shown flashes of life in recent defeats to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
But here they were without the two standout players from those games, Tyler Dibling and Kamaldeen Sulemana – both injured along with Aaron Ramsdale.
Howe was frustrated by his side’s sluggish start in their humbling by Bournemouth last week and they were stunned after just 10 minutes here.
Kyle Walker-Peters, hardly a bruiser, shoved the towering Dan Burn off the ball on the Toon byline.
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He laid back to James Bree, who was given time to pick out a fine ball for the unmarked Bednarek to head in his second goal in as many games.
Saints have struggled desperately for consistency across 90 minutes, let alone a run of games.
They looked to keep the pressure on Newcastle, with Toon fan Adam Armstrong sending a shot at Martin Dubravka.
If Southampton’s opener was a surprise, their collapse was entirely predictable.
A defensive cock-up is never far away in these parts and Joe Aribo delivered on 22 minutes – though Newcastle needed VAR to confirm it.
Referee Sam Barrott had initially pointed for a corner after Aribo sent Isak tumbling in the box, but replays showed the Saints midfielder never got a touch on the ball.
And for the fifth straight game on the road Isak found the back of the net, sending Alex McCarthy the wrong way from the spot.
Isak’s goalscoring run of eight consecutive games may have been stopped by the Cherries, but that blank clearly had not dented his confidence.
The super Swede came close to a second three minutes after his penalty, seeing a powerful strike palmed away after he latched onto Bruno Guimaraes’ back-heel.
There was no such disappointment just 60 seconds later.
Jacob Murphy clipped the ball past Aribo in midfield and fizzed a perfect ball into the path of Isak, who cushioned with his left and rolled an ice-cool finish in with his right.
With so many clubs gagging to land a striker this month, Newcastle can demand the earth for their marksman should anyone come calling.
But if he helps them back into the Champions League, there will be confidence of keeping him on Tyneside for the foreseeable future.
Southampton had not been as hopeless as they have looked at times in this doomed season.
Dubravka had to save twice from Taylor Harwood-Bellis, first tipping an acrobatic effort over the bar before holding onto his header from the resulting corner.
But despite their encouraging spells – this squad is simply not good enough for the Premier League.
Just five minutes into the second half the Saints left a gap so wide at the back that the tractors which had been protesting outside before kick-off would have found their way through.
But it was Tonali who exploited the space, showing aggression in the middle before charging forwards to pick up Anthony Gordon’s ball and slotting past McCarthy.
It could have been a much more depressing afternoon for the Saints had McCarthy not tipped Murphy’s strike onto the post, while Bednarek also blocked on the line from Joelinton.
Matheus Fernandes tested Dubravka from the edge of the box and with five minutes to go looked to have made it a nervy finish, but his goal was ruled out for offside.
SERIAL killer “Jack the Stripper” may finally have his identity revealed as one of his six victim’s sons has said he knows who did it.
It is one of the UK’s most chilling unsolved serial killer cases and it left half a dozen sex workers dead, dumped stripped of their clothes across west London.
As evidence increasingly points towards a single suspect, a child of one of the victims has urgently pleaded the Metropolitan Police to re-investigate the cold case.
Frances Brown was found dead and stripped naked in a Kensington car park on 25 November, 1964.
Her son, Frank, can’t remember a time when his mum’s murder did not dominate his life as he was just six months old when she was killed.
He feels the victims’ families have been robbed of justice and that one suspect is undoubtedly the killer.
Frank told MailOnline that he’d always wanted to find out what had happened to his mum but that conversations surrounding the case had only recently opened up.
He added that while previously he used to accept the view of the police and found it easier to do so, he wants the force to look at the case again as the “families deserve it.”
Frank’s mum was one of six sex workers murdered over a two-year period in the 1960s in what became known as the Hammersmith nude murders.
Despite being led by Scotland Yard chief superintendent John Du Rose, nicknamed “five day John” due to his perceived ability to solve murders in just five days, the murder case eventually went cold.
But for Frank, he believes he knows the identity of the killer for sure, claiming he was “100 per cent convinced” the murderer was Harold Jones.
Jones, of Abertillery, Wales, had been convicted for the murder of two young girls in the 1920s.
He was aged just 15 when he killed 8-year-old Freda Burnell, although he was later acquitted due to limited evidence.
But just two months later, he lured 11-year-old Florence Little to his parents’ home before hitting her over the head with a piece of wood, slitting her throat, and hiding her body in the attic.
After pleading guilty, he was sent to Wandsworth Prison where he also admitted to the murder of Freda before being later released in 1941 aged 35.
Jones’ involvement in the Hammersmith murders case was looked into in a 2019 BBC documentary Dark Son: The Hunt For A Serial Killer.
David Wilson, a criminology professor at Birmingham University, led the investigation which found many similarities between Jones and Jack the Stripper.
They also found he had been living under the name of Harry Stevens, with links to an industrial estate where police believed the bodies had been kept before being discarded in the River Thames.
This evidence led them to seek a cold case review from the Met, citing Jones as the prime suspect, although the families are still no closer to confirmation more than five years later.
Jack the Stripper’s first murder victim is generally believed to have been Hannah Tailford, 30, who was found dead by the River Thames in Hammersmith in February 1964.
On April 8, Irene Lockwood was found completely naked slightly further up the riverbank in Chiswick – she had been pregnant at the time.
16 days after that, Scottish-born Helen Barthelemy was found dead in a Brentford alleyway.
May Fleming’s body was discovered outside a garage forecourt in Chiswick in July.
Frances Brown was found in November in a Kensington car park, after last being seen alive by a fellow sex worker getting into a client’s car in October.
The final victim, Bridget O’Hara, was found dead near a storage shed behind the Heron Trading Estate in Acton in February, 1965, after being declared missing since January.
Both Bridget and Helen’s bodies were found with flecks of industrial paint, with the latter’s also showing signs of being stored in a warm environment.
Two earlier murders have also been linked by some investigators to Jack the Stripper.
Elizabeth Figg was found dead on 17 June 1959 in Duke’s Meadows, Chiswick, close to the River Thames – at the time the area was known for being frequented by prostitutes.
Gwynneth Rees’ almost entirely naked body was also discovered on 8 November 1963 on Townmead Road, Mortlake, in a household refuse disposal site.
Harold Jones’ daughter, who anonymously spoke in the 2019 documentary and was completely unaware of her father’s past, described him as “an unassuming family man” who kept a “terribly dark secret” until his death.
A spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police said: “While no unsolved murder investigation is closed, there are currently no active lines of enquiry in relation to these murders.
“If anyone has fresh information that they believe could assist police, they are asked to call 101 or make contact via our website.”
THE 10 men of Arsenal overcame the 12, and then 11, of Wolves to keep their title challenge alive with a Riccardo Calafiori winner.
That is how it must feel for Mikel Arteta, his players, every Gooner and most unbiased observers after referee Michael Oliver made one of the worst decisions ever seen.
Oliver confirmed his status as Arsenal’s least favourite official when he sent off Myles Lewis-Skelly in the first half.
Against all common sense,Oliver ruled the teenager’s cynical trip on Matt Doherty 30 yards from the Wolves goal to be violent conduct.
Somehow VAR let the call stand.
But Arteta’s team channelled their fury. And shortly after Oliver made it 10 v 10 by sending Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes off for a second yellow card, Calafiori scored what could turn out to be a vital goal.
The Italian had come on at half time to replace Lewis-Skelly at left back so it felt like justice of a sort that he turned the ball in neatly after Nelson Semedo’s poor header from a Gabriel Martinelli cross.
But the Arsenal fans who abused Oliver and accused him of making the game all about him will nor forget his latest intervention.
Oliver and Arsenal have history.
On this same ground in February 2022, the referee booked Gabriel Martinelli twice in quick succession for blocking a throw-in and then immediately committing a foul.
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Then earlier in this campaign, he showed Leandro Trossard a second yellow card against Manchester City for kicking the ball away.
But this was arguably the worst decision of them all and could have proved so costly for the Gunners.
Arteta had enough problems anyway.
He welcomed back William Saliba and Ethan Nwaneri for their first starts since injury, but found himself without captain Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino.
The Spaniard had picked up an unspecified knock while Odegaard had been sent back to London because of illness after travelling to the West Midlands with the team.
Wolves started nervously at the back, almost presenting Arsenal with chances to score.
Yet it was the home side who threatened first.
Captain Nelson Semedo’s charge down the right and cross deserved better than Pablo Sarabia volleying the ball over the crossbar.
After that it was all Arsenal.
Leandro Trossard sent in tempting crosses for Kai Havertz twice. The German sent his first header wide but seemed to have got the second right, angling it back across Jose Sa.
But the Wolves goalkeeper kept the ball out with his right leg, probably more by luck than judgement.
Nwaneri wasted a good sight of goal from a free kick 20 yards out but little more happened until Oliver’s moment of madness.
As Wolves tried to break after a poor Declan Rice corner, Lewis-Skelly brought down Matt Doherty with a cynical trip about 30 yards out..
Yellow card, all day long.
Not in Oliver’s world. Out came the red, and Arsenal went ballistic.
There was no way Lewis-Skelly had denied a goalscoring opportunity, even without taking into account it was Doherty who was fouled.
Yet the PGMOL’s explanation that the young Arsenal star wasa guilty of serious foul play was simply nonsense. The challenge was not high, nor was their excessive force or serious danger to Doherty.
VAR Darren England should have told Oliver to think again. But England was the man guilty of the worst error with the technology in Premier League history, when he and his team failed to correct an offside call against Liverpool’s Luis Diaz in the game against Tottenham in September 2023.
Jurrien Timber was booked for his protests and the away fans let Oliver know exactly what they thought of him. You could only have sympathy.
Arteta sent on Riccardo Calafiori for Nwaneri at half time to rebalance his team.
The Arsenal supporters were soon singing, “Michael Oliver, it’s all about you”.
Their team were equally defiant, pinning Wolves back after the break and Rice stung Sa’s hands with a rasping shot.
At the other end, Hwang Hee-Chan, who had replaced the injured Jorgen Strand Larsen in the first half, tested David Raya with an effort from distance.
Then Sarabia could only divert a cross wide. It became end to end stuff.
Havertz headed a Rice free kick over the bar, then Raya made an acrobatic stop from Matheus Cunha.
And from the resulting corner, alleged Arsenal target Cunha could only shoot wide when the ball fell to him just outside the six-yard box.
Then things got interesting. Joao Gomes fouled Timber unnecessarily in the Arsenal penalty area and was shown a second yellow card. 10 v 10, Game very much on.
The inevitable soon happened.
Martinelli curled in a cross and Semedo’s header dropped to Calafiori, who turned it in on the half volley with the kind of poise you don’t expect from a defender.
The Arsenal players ran to celebrate with Arteta, his backroom team and the substitutes, all of them knowing how important a goal it was.
It felt like Wolves had blown their chance, and so it proved.
Rayan Ait-Nouri burst through on the break but Raya came out to make a decent save.
The Arsenal goalkeeper dealt easily with a Cunha effort.
And the Gunners pulled off an against-the-odds, against-the-referee victory that could yet inspire them to overhaul leaders Liverpool.
DANGO QUATTARA ran the show as Bournemouth demolished Nottingham Forest.
Justin Kluivert netted the opener against the surprise package team of the Premier League inside nine minutes.
Dango Quattara took the game by the scruff of the neck as he sealed the victory for the hosts.
He netted his first in the 55th minute before adding two more to seal his hat-trick before full-time.
Antoine Semenyo put the cherry on top as he added a fifth in the 91st minute.
The stunning win for the Cherries sees them keep pace in the race for European football.
More to follow…
THE family of “amazing” Leo Ross who was knifed to death on his way home from school have paid tribute as a teen, 14, has been charged with murder.
The boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, has been remanded into custody to appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday having been charged this afternoon with Leo’s murder and possession of a bladed article.
Leo, aged 12, was found injured near Scribers Lane at around 3.40pm on Tuesday, and sadly died in hospital at around 7.30pm.
As a result of a thorough investigation and review of all available evidence, we have also charged the 14-year-old boy with six additional assaults, none of which involved the use of a knife.
All of the victims of those offences have been notified and are being supported by officers.
The charges are for:
Our specialist officers continue to support Leo’s family and we have informed them of the latest developments.
Leo’s family said today: “We want everyone to know what an amazing, kind, loving boy Leo was.
“Not only has Leo’s life been taken, all of our lives have as well.
“Leo will be truly missed by all of us. He was loved so much by everyone.
“The family want to thank the school, the police and everyone involved in the investigation and supporting us all through this horrific time.”
The tragic death of Leo has had a devastating impact on his family, friends, school and the wider community.
Our officers continue to have a high-profile presence in the area to offer support and reassurance.
The investigation into Leo’s death continues and we are still appealing for anyone with information.
