Newcastle had dominated the opening half an hour, and were given their due reward when Daniel Ballard inadvertently sent Joelinton's teasing cross into his own goal. Before being given a chance to settle into the second half, Sunderland conceded again, as Almiron capitalised on some woeful control from Pierre Ekwah to nick the ball in the Black Cats box and squared for Isak to finish.
Sunderland did have a couple of promising moments, with Alex Pritchard hitting the crossbar from range, but this was largely a toothless performance, and their Premier League opponents were rarely troubled. And the scoreline was capped late on, when Isak scored from the spot after Ballard fouled Anthony Gordon in the penalty area. In a derby that promised so much, the hosts' performance left much to be desired to give Newcastle their first win against their bitter rivals since 2011.