Justin Kuivert hits hat-trick as ‘crazy’ Bournemouth end Newcastle win-streak in style

Justin Kluivert cracked a stunning hat-trick as Bournemouth ended Newcastle United's nine-game win-streak in sensational fashion at St James' Park on Saturday.

The Magpies were hoping to seal a club record 10th victory in a row across all competitions but were outfought and out-thought by Andoni Iraola's side.

Kluivert, who also notched a treble against Wolves earlier in the campaign, opened the scoring after six minutes before Bruno Guimaraes levelled for the Magpies.

Just before the break, Kluivert – whose father Patrick played one season for Newcastle in 2004-05 – restored the Cherries' lead before completing his hat-trick in second-half injury-time with a wonderful long-range finish.

There was also time for Milos Kerkez to put the icing on the cake with Bournemouth's fourth goal and complete a brilliant day's work for the visitors.

Victory moved the south-coast club up to sixth place in the Premier League, after an unbeaten 11-game run, just one point behind Newcastle in fourth.

“It was a crazy performance from us,” said Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo. “We just knew we needed to get the press right and if we did we'd get opportunities and as you saw from a couple of the goals we got the press right and got the three points.

“We knew they had moments when they'd keep it at the back and we wanted to catch out the back four. As soon as the goalkeeper passed to the centre back that was our trigger to go and it worked out perfectly.

“Justin [Kluivert]'s finishes were special. He's a top player for us. It was a well-deserved hat-trick.”

The fact Bournemouth's run has been achieved despite a number of injuries hitting their squad makes it even more impressive.

“It is all mindset,” added Semenyo. “Our mindset is just so strong, we are mentally tough. we go through all these tough moments with injuries but we know collectively we can do it and nobody can tell us differently.

“We are taking it game by game and not putting any pressure on ourselves.”

Bournemouth could have taken the lead after just four minutes when Dango Ouattara's flicked finish from a David Brooks was brilliantly saved by Martin Dubravka in the Newcastle goal.

Moments later, Dubravka was beaten when a flowing Bournemouth move ended with Kluivert sending a crisp finish into the bottom corner.

Newcastle were lacking the attacking quality, with in-form striker Alexander Isak quiet throughout, that has characterised their charge up the table but did manage to level the scores in the 25th minute.

Lewis Hall picked out captain Guimaraes from a corner and his header found the back of net despite keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga getting a hand to the ball.

Bournemouth retook the lead in first-half injury-time when Guimaraes turned into trouble deep in his own half conceding possession with Ouattara feeding Kluivert who produced another fine, low finish to make it 2-1.

On the hour, Dango Ouattara thought he had made it 3-1 only for VAR to spot that Guimaraes' clearance had gone out of play earlier in the move with a corner awarded instead of a goal, which came to nothing.

Brooks was also denied a goal thanks to a desperate save from Dubravka before Kluivert sealed his hat-trick in the 92nd minute.

A sloppy pass from Anthony Gordon gifted possession to Bournemouth and Kluivert produced a glorious finish that flew into the far corner past a helpless Dubravka.

Substitute Daniel Jebbison should have scored when he found himself through one-on-one with Dubravka only for the Slovakian to block his shot.

Kerkez did make it four with a powerful left-footed finish six minutes into stoppage time.

It was Newcastle's first defeat since losing 4-2 at Brentford on December December 7 – a run that has included wins over Aston Villa, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

But defender Dan Burn admitted the team struggled to deal with a superb all-round Bournemouth performance

“We didn't start very well,” admitted the centre-half. “They set traps and we played into them quite a few times. It was hard to recover. Bournemouth were just the better team today, technically and physically, and deserved to win.

“They are very, very good on the counter. They've got some very good players and are very dangerous. They ask questions that a lot of other teams don't ask. They go quite long and direct and you don't come up against that as much in this league.

“We played in areas that we usually don't. We lost the ball quite a lot in the middle of the pitch. It is disappointing. We've been on a great run so we just need to dust ourselves down and go again.

“Those are the standards we set for ourselves. The work we've done throughout the season has been exactly the same.”