Newcastle United claimed a vital 3-0 over Wigan at St James Park last night.

The victory moved the Magpies five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

The home side were helped by the 13^th minute sending off of Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa.

The Honduran international was shown a straight red card for shoulder-barging striker Papiss Cisse in the penalty area, and Newcastle’s top scorer Demba Ba made no mistake with the resulting spot kick.

The Senegalese international was on hand to score the home side’s second goal on 23 minutes. Davide Santon’s long range effort was parried by Ali Al Habsi, only for Ba to nip in and calmly score with the rebound.

Wigan came out brighter in the second half, but couldn’t find a way back into the contest due to their numerical disadvantage. The game was killed off completely in the 70^th minute. Young substitute Gael Bigirimana cut in from the wing and curled home a superb effort.

It wasn’t all good news for the home side though, as both Davide Santon and Demba Ba went off with injuries. Newcastle currently have a long injury-list and Newcastle boss Alan Pardew will be hoping that Ba and Santon make quick recoveries.

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Newcastle face a trip to Fulham at the weekend. Fulham’s Craven Cottage is usually a difficult ground to visit, but the Cottagers haven’t won in eight games and suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham last time out.

Despite their injury-list the Magpies will be expecting to gain a positive result in London. However, Fulham will also see the game as an opportunity to gain a victory. Newcastle are not yet clear of the relegation battle just yet.

They are five points clear of 18^th placed Southampton, but a defeat at Fulham could drag them right back towards the danger zone. It’s vital that Newcastle build on this result, because if they don’t then they could be facing up to a hard long season.

Will Newcastle still be in the relegation battle towards the end of the season?