HATEM Ben Arfa's goal four minutes from time denied Fulham a point in the north east.
The Frenchman has proved a menace to the Whites before, scoring in two previous Premier League appearances against Martin Jol's men and his classy finish gave Fulham a horrible sense of deja vu. In April they lost at St James' Park to an injury-time goal to Papiss Cisse.
The first half was not much to write home about, but the Geordies upped their game after the hour mark, when Yohan Cabaye and Loic Remy came on and Cisse headed against the bar.
Late on, Adel Taarabt had an effort saved by Tim Krul, but Fulham attacks were few and far between as they concentrated on being hard to break down.
In the end, however, all their hard work went to waste when Ben Arfa, cutting in from the right, curled superbly into the top corner.
Yoan Gouffran, another second-half replacement, and Cabaye almost added goals toward the end, but were both denied by Whites stopper David Stockdale.
Fulham handed Darren Bent (pictured) his first start, and also brought in Bryan Ruiz and Alex Kacaniklic for Damien Duff and Pajtim Kasami in a side showing three changes from last week's team against Arsenal.
But in truth, the Whites rarely troubled the Newcastle goal, though the on-loan Aston Villa man did come close to getting on the end of Sascha Riether's near-post cross.
Bent also gave Krul a worry with a second-half header, while Ruiz's free-kick was also well-stopped by the Dutch goalkeeper.
Line up: Stockdale; Riether (Briggs 73), Hangeland, Hughes, Riise; Ruiz, Sidwell (Rodallega 89), Parker; Kacaniklic; Berbatov, Bent (Taarabt 82). Subs not used: Etheridge, Karagounis, Duff, Boeteng. Attendance: 46,402
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