EDDIE HOWE feels Sean Longstaff was ‘lucky to walk away’ from the tackle that resulted in Nathaniel Chalobah being sent off in the early stages of Newcastle United’s 4-1 win at Fulham.

Chalobah was initially booked after thudding into Sean Longstaff’s ankle with a studs-up challenge after just six minutes at Craven Cottage.

However, after he was advised by VAR to watch the incident on the pitch-side monitor, referee Darren England upgraded his initial yellow card to a straight red.

With an extra man for more than 80 minutes, Newcastle claimed four goals, with Miguel Almiron scoring twice and Callum Wilson and Sean Longstaff also finding the net.

Fulham boss Marco Silva felt Chalobah’s challenge should only have resulted in a booking, but Howe disagreed.

The Newcastle boss said: “I haven’t seen it again, but my initial feeling was, ‘Ooh, that’s high’. Whenever there’s height and force, the player’s safety is in danger.

“I thought Sean was lucky to get up from that one. I think the referee had a similar view – hence why he gave the red card.”

Newcastle’s victory was only their second league success of the season, and lifts Howe’s side into seventh position in the table.

He said: “Today was a day that was all positive for us. It was a really good performance from the group. It was a very important game for us – we knew we needed to win.

“We knew we needed to perform well – we know how difficult this ground can be and how good a team Fulham are.

“The sending off certainly helped us, but even before that, I felt there was a good feel about the team. I thought the body language and our attitude to the game was spot on.”