A new year, a new Newcastle United?

Well, not quite. But this victory was extremely significant and desperately needed, of that there can be little doubt.

The Magpies entered 2018 just a point above the relegation zone. They ended New Year’s Day four points clear of third-bottom West Ham United - and just five behind ninth-placed Everton.

In this congested bottom half of the Premier League table, one win can catapult you from the drop zone towards mid-table mediocrity - and, when that victory comes against a relegation rival, it is all the more precious. Particularly seeing as it comes just before FA Cup third-round weekend.

While Newcastle’s form at St James’ Park remains turgid - the goalless draw with Brighton and Hove Albion was, at times, woeful - their away performances have improved dramatically.

This 1-0 win at the Bet365 Stadium, a ground the Magpies have historically struggled at, immediately followed the victory away at West Ham United just before Christmas.

For the first time since November 2014, Newcastle have recorded back-to-back top-flight victories on the road - and United have now won the same number of matches at St James’ Park as they have done on their travels.

Rafa Benitez has discovered a formula which is working to devastating effect against their nearest away from home at the moment: defend deep, remain solid, and then counter attack at blistering pace.

The Spaniard has, rightly to a degree, received criticism for some of his tactical decisions on Tyneside in recent weeks - but in successive away matches he has played two blinders with left-field team selections.

On this occasion, Newcastle did not start with an out-and-out centre-forward; instead, Christian Atsu partnered match-winner Ayoze Perez up front.

It raised eyebrows an hour before kick-off, but it was rightly celebrated long after the final whistle.

Everyone expected Benitez to rotate once again given that this was Newcastle’s second game in less than 48 hours, but few would have predicted the XI who started at the Bet365 Stadium.

Both Joselu and Dwight Gayle were dropped to the bench and, for the first time in a long while, Perez adopted a lone-striker role.

He was one of five players who were restored to the starting XI, along with Javier Manquillo, Mo Diame, Jonjo Shelvey and Jacob Murphy.

Alongside Perez’s inclusion as a forward - he has normally operated as a second-striker, No 10 or even a left-sided attacker under Benitez - was the pre-match intrigue over exactly which formation United were going to deploy given that they had three wingers in their line-up and no natural attacking central-midfielder.

It took less than five minutes for the two makeshift forwards to combine - with Perez feeding a delicious through-ball for Atsu who, after breaking into the area, saw his shot across goal deflect wide for a corner.

By the 10th minute, Atsu had also sliced a shot from the edge of the area wide of the far post, when he had time and space to at least force a save out of Jack Butland.

In fact, the opening quarter-of-an-hour was very much the Atsu show; after Perez played DeAndre Yedlin in down the right, the American found Atsu free in the six-yard box, but the Ghanaian could only place his shot straight at Butland, who parried out for a corner.

The home side’s first real chance of note saw Charlie Adam whip a vicious 25-yard free-kick over the Newcastle wall, which Karl Darlow saw late - though the goalkeeper was equal to it.

Then, right on the half-hour mark, Ciaran Clark offered an early contender for miss of 2018.

Ritchie curled in a corner from the right, which Perez nodded on to an unmarked Clark. The Irishman, a mere three yards out and completely unmarked, somehow managed to direct his shot high and very wide.

At the break, the scoreline remained 0-0 - with Newcastle having wasted several excellent first-half opportunities. Thankfully, they were not made to pay.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the half-time interval appeared to benefit the home side. Stoke came out with a renewed urgency to attack, and Maxim Choupo-Moting forced an excellent save out of Darlow with a powerful curling effort from the edge of the area.

As Newcastle went in search of a winner, Gayle was eventually introduced for Atsu in the 64th minute, given that the Ghanaian’s influence had waned since the restart.

The forward’s impact was immediate, flicking back a Darlow long ball to Perez, who drew a foul from Kevin Wimmer. Shelvey then stepped up to take the free-kick, curling his 22-yard effort just wide of the far post.

It was Gayle who also forced what would have been the most contentious talking point of the match too, have United not eventually gone on to win. Murphy played a low ball in behind the Stoke defence and Gayle, who had got away from Kurt Zouma, was suddenly hauled to the ground.

It appeared there was contact, but referee Chris Kavanagh was unmoved - despite the vociferous protests of Gayle and his United team-mates.

Yet it was not Gayle who finally delivered the breakthrough. Instead, it was Perez.

After Murphy made a break down the right, the winger then curled in a delicious ball to Perez who, having got in behind his marker, merely needed to prod past Butland and into the net.

Stoke, knowing the urgency of their predicament, went in search of an equaliser. Substitute Mame Biram Diouf almost found one with a left-footed volley too, only for Darlow to stick out a hand and make an excellent point-blank save.

It was Diouf who Darlow once again denied with an arguably even better save soon after, with the Stoke forward direct a header from just six yards towards the bottom corner, yet Darlow somehow parried it away.

Newcastle simply would not be denied their perfect start to 2018.

Nobody predicted that the Magpies’ salvation this term would be found on their travels but, given that Benitez’s current counter-attacking tactics appear to be better suited to away games, perhaps that might just be the case.

Recent performances at St James’ Park have been dreary, while those away from home have been rewarding.

That is certainly not something this correspondent expected to be writing as 2018 begins in earnest..