Newcastle 0, Albion 1

You need nine or ten wins in the Premier League as a firm foundation for survival.

Anything less spells danger, as the bottom four discovered last season. Southampton scraped by because 15 draws accompanied their seven victories.

Albion now have three wins in nine matches, an especially encouraging ratio considering the number of stiff examinations they have faced.

Every three points is precious but the maximum return chiselled out in the north-east was, for various reasons, the most valuable so far.

Not as eyecatching as beating Manchester United at the Amex again but it ensured momentum was not lost by the international break which followed the hard-fought home win by the same score over West Ham.

More importantly, it was achieved away from headquarters for only the third time in 24 attempts, without stricken leading marksman Glenn Murray for most of the match.

Most importantly of all, it came against one of the sides expected to occupy similar territory in the table.

There are no must-win games in October. There are, for clubs at Albion's stage of development in the Premier League, games not to lose.

This was one of them. Newcastle would have moved to within three points. Retaining a six-point gap would have been fine, nine feels substantial.

The team that pipped Albion to the Championship title and finished tenth last season are now bottom and remain winless.

Not doomed - Crystal Palace demonstrated turnarounds are possible after a shocking start - but enough to provoke sleepless nights.

The pressure is mounting on Rafa Benitez. Boos greeted the final whistle and, prior to that, the Spaniard's decision to bring on Joselu for Yoshinori Muto in the frantic pursuit of parity.

The Argus: St James' Park emptied quickly, leaving the Albion fans (above) stuck in the clouds - or rather the top tier behind the goal successfully defended in the second half - to bellow "There's only one Chrissy Hughton".

Albion's manager is still fondly remembered for running away with the Championship eight years ago before Newcastle's controversial owner Mike Ashley axed him with indecent haste.

Hughton, ever the gentlemen, remarked afterwards he still wants Newcastle to do well apart from when they play Albion.

Nevertheless, when you need to finish above at least three teams, it is handy to have them three wins adrift.

Albion had to recover from the early loss of Murray to a sickening clash of heads with Federico Fernandez.

His hopes of adding the goal he requires to complete a century for the club literally suffered a knockout blow.

Thankfully he is okay, although the concussive nature of his misfortune will deprive Albion of their talisman for now.

The backs-to-the wall narrative which achieved the result contrasted with the bold selection by Hughton. Three wingers operated again behind Murray and his diligent but often isolated replacement Jurgen Locadia.

Solly March remained in the No.10 role in the continuing absence of Pascal Gross, Alireza Jahanbakhsh made his full away debut on the back of his first league start against West Ham.

The surprise was Anthony Knockaert making way for the return to the starting line-up for the first time this season of Jose Izquierdo, who suffered a knee injury in the World Cup with Colombia.

Izquierdo was Albion's third highest scorer last season with five goals, behind Murray and Gross. He has the capacity to make things happen.

So it proved with the decisive moment. Jahanbakhsh's corner was headed back by Shane Duffy for Izquierdo to strike cleanly from the edge of the box on the half-volley.

The Argus: The shot took a deflection on its way in, as it transpired a flick by Beram Kayal (above right), ending at last the collective goal famine of the central midfielders.

It is good to see Albion also threatening more from corners this season, instead of conceding from them, and Duffy exploiting his aerial prowess.

If you want defenders to defend there is no better partnership than Duffy and Lewis Dunk, fresh from his call-up to the England squad.

Newcastle had 27 attempts on goal and goodness knows how many crosses into the box. Most of them were blocked by the heads or boots of the pair.

The Argus: Behind them Mathew Ryan remains consistency personified. The best of several saves came early on from Ayoze Perez when Gaetan Bong dallied and from a Jonjo Shelvey free-kick in the second half (above).

Although Newcastle dominated, Albion could have won more decisively. Jahanbakhsh dinked wide of the far post after the break when well-placed and substitute Yves Bissouma slotted wide at the end when clean through.