West Brom 1-3 Newcastle: Cisse nets twice as visitors move level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea

Posted Monday, March 26, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

Newcastle boosted its chances of a top-four finish with a convincing 3-1 victory away at West Brom on Sunday.

A double from Papiss Cisse and a strike from Hatem Ben Arfa gave the Magpies a commanding lead and, although halftime substitute Shane Long scored shortly after the break, the visitors never looked likely to relinquish their lead.

For Newcastle, the victory went some way to making up for their 3-2 defeat to the Baggies in the reverse fixture in December.

In that game the Magpies were 2-0 up before subsequently conceding three, however, that scenario never looked likely at the Hawthorns as Alan Pardew’s side made the perfect start, taking the lead after just six minutes.

10 million pound January signing Papiss Cisse scored his first goal away from the Sports Direct Arena as he swept in a cross from former Marseille midfielder Ben Arfa.

Just five minutes later the pair combined again only this time it was Cisse setting up Ben Arfa, who jinked past Olsson and finished brilliantly to score his sixth goal for the club.

Stunned by the early onslaught, the hosts began to play their way back into the game but, on the half-hour mark, matters got worse as Cisse slotted in after another assist from Ben Arfa.

West Brom boss Roy Hodgson made a double change at the break and just five minutes later his decision proved shrewd as Long pounced on a mix-up between Mike Williamson and Tim Krul to give the home side a chance of a comeback.

It struggled to build on its early second half advantage though, as Newcastle’s defence held up to anything thrown at them.

Despite their dominance, the game ended on a somewhat sour not for the Magpies, as the impressive Cisse left the field on a stretcher with 15 minutes left to play.

However, Pardew’s side now sit level on points with Chelsea and five points behind Tottenham in the last Champions League qualification spot, whilst West Brom is still four points short of the 40-point mark that should guarantee survival.