A much-changed Newcastle played out a third consecutive goalless away Premier League draw as high-flying Bournemouth were held at the Vitality Stadium.
Newcastle, who made seven changes from the midweek Champions League defeat to Barcelona, kept the Cherries quiet but failed to threaten themselves with only one shot on target.
The match in total produced just 15 shots and a combined xG of 0.69 – both of which are the lowest totals in a Premier League game so far this season.
Player ratings:
Bournemouth: Petrovic (6); Jimenez (6), Diakite (7), Senesi (7), Truffert (7); Adams (6), Scott (6); Semenyo (6), Tavernier (6), Brooks (6); Evanilson (6).
Subs: Hill (7), Kluivert (6), Christie (6), Adli (6).
Newcastle: Pope (7); Thiaw (7), Botman (7), Burn (7); Livramento (6), Tonali (7), Miley (6), Willock (6), Hall (6); Murphy (6), Woltemade (6).
Subs: Elanga (6), Barnes (6), Lascelles (n/a), Osula (n/a).
Player of the Match: Sandro Tonali.
The stalemate means Eddie Howe’s side have not won any of their last six away league games, while they have failed to score in their last four.
Newcastle’s heavy rotation immediately showed on the south coast as Bournemouth started brightly.
Tyler Adams forced Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope into a ninth-minute save before his opposite number, Djordje Petrovic, was made to work by Jacob Murphy two minutes later.
Bournemouth thought they had gone ahead in the 15th minute as David Brooks fired in from close range, but his goal was disallowed for offside with VAR confirming a tight decision.
It proved to be the closest either side came to a winner as they played out an uninspiring second half.
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Bournemouth’s Marcus Tavernier shows his frustration in the goalless draw against Newcastle
Newcastle defender Malick Thiaw, on his first start for the club, was fortunate to escape a late second yellow card after fouling Ryan Christie, with Howe quickly substituting the German.
Bournemouth substitute Justin Kluivert had the only shot on target of the second half in stoppage time, but his free-kick was saved by Pope.
Bournemouth’s failure to break through the visitors meant Andoni Iraola’s third-placed side missed the chance to move second, while Newcastle drop to 13th and have won just one of their six games across all competitions this season.
Team news
The only four Newcastle players to keep their places from the midweek home loss to Barcelona were Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Tino Livramento and Sandro Tonali.
Malick Thiaw, Lewis Hall and Joe Willock were handed their first starts of the season as Eddie Howe played a back three.
Bournemouth made two changes from last weekend’s home win over Brighton as defenders Alex Jimenez and Bafode Diakite replaced the benched James Hill and Veljko Milosavjevic.
Howe: We’ve shown our strength in depth
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe speaking to Sky Sports:
“We showed the strength of our squad today because I did think it was a good performance without being a match-winning one.
“We used a lot of different players, so that’s a really positive sign. I think there were some really good things within our performance.
Image:
Lewis Hall is challenged by Antoine Semenyo
“Defensively, we were really good. You want to see the team defending our box well, hard to play against, strong, robust, and I think we were all those things.
“Obviously, the concern for us is that we weren’t free-flowing in creating the amount of chances we would want, but it’s a very difficult place to come. I think a point here is a good result.
“If you look at the games we’ve played, it’s not by luck that we’ve kept these clean sheets.
“Yes, Nick [Pope] made a couple of good saves, but it was the performance of the team that was cohesive and minimised space for them.
“We weren’t as aggressive, but it was a mixture of Wednesday and getting the best out of our players.”
Iraola: Thiaw should’ve been sent off
Image:
Malick Thiaw (left) battles with Evanilson
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola speaking to Sky Sports about whether Thiaw should have been sent off:
“The Newcastle bench decided to take him out one or two minutes later.
“It’s a clear second yellow. I don’t know if it would make a big difference because there wasn’t much time remaining.”
On the result: “It was going to be different to the other Newcastle-Bournemouth from the past. They were looking to make the game very slow, very tight, very compact.
“I liked the first 30 minutes. We were putting pressure on them, but after that, we haven’t been as brilliant offensively.
“We have been very solid, but we haven’t been as brilliant to make the difference.”
Analysis: Newcastle’s away goal drought concerning
Sky Sports’ Will Bitibiri:
A combined expected goals of 0.69 pretty much sums up what was a drab affair between Newcastle and Bournemouth.
It was far from exciting, but that’s not something that Newcastle are unfamiliar with away from St James’ Park this season.
Newcastle have failed to score in their last four away games, which adds to their lack of wins on the road over their last six.
It was a heavily-altered Newcastle side with Eddie Howe making seven changes to the team that were beaten by Barcelona.
However, one of those changes included their club-record signing, Nick Woltemade. For all of the impressive actions he had on the ball, he failed to register a single shot, which will worry Howe.
Having lost one of the league’s leading goalscorers in Alexander Isak, Newcastle have an unwanted goalscoring problem, which will open the door for the link to be made to the Swede’s departure.
Luckily for them, though, they will be given time to remedy their toothless away goalscoring run, as their next trip is to Brighton, after the next international break.
The stalemate in stats…Three of Newcastle’s five games in the Premier League this season have ended 0-0; the most goalless draws after five matches of a single campaign since Burnley in 2014-15 (also three).Newcastle have already kept four clean sheets in the Premier League in 2025-26; the joint-most after five matches of a top-flight campaign in the club’s history, along with 1900-01 and 1922-23 (also four).Newcastle manager Eddie Howe hasn’t won any of his seven Premier League games against former club Bournemouth (D5 L2).Bournemouth have won 10 points from their opening five games of the Premier League season (W3 D1 L1); their joint-best return at this stage of a top-flight campaign (also 10 in 2018-19 – W3 D1 L1).Story of the match in stats…