Eddie Howe hailed Newcastle United's "defensive mentality" as the key to their 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the Premier League.

Anthony Gordon slotted home the winner in the 18th minute to earn Newcastle a second consecutive win, having also beaten Manchester United last time out in the league.

The Magpies became the fourth non-London side to win 50 Premier League away games in the capital, winning just their second of 31 such matches at Stamford Bridge.

However, they came under a lot of threat from Chelsea's attack as the Blues had 22 shots – their most attempts without scoring in a Premier League home game since April 2023.

Chelsea only got three of those on target, though, and hit the woodwork with another, and Howe was full of praise for Newcastle's defensive solidity.

"I think our defensive mentality was key. We were really good off the ball, in every respect," Howe told Sky Sports.

"We rode our luck at times in the second half, but with the amount of times we've been hurt this season, I thought we deserved it.

"It was an excellent goal, and we were very much in the game. It was a great pass from Tino [Livramento] to slip in Joe Willock and very unselfish from Joe to pick out Anthony [Gordon].

"It's our first clean sheet in a long time. It's been a difficult spell for us. We've defended really well at times. We know it's in there, it's just about bringing it all together."

Newcastle travel to Barcelona in the Champions League last 16 for the second leg after drawing the first 1-1, before hosting rivals Sunderland in the Tyne-Wear derby in the Premier League in what could be a pivotal week in their season.

And Howe believes his players can take confidence from this result as they seek to continue their run in Europe.

"We have two huge games to finish off this week – mouth-watering for us," Howe added.

"We can go [to Barcelona] in good spirits after [this win]."