Newcastle turned on the style in the absence of head coach Eddie Howe to rout Crystal Palace and ease themselves into third place in the Premier League table.
The Magpies swept the Eagles aside in a game which had promised to be much more taxing as efforts from Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar and Alexander Isak either side of Marc Guehi’s own goal and Nick Pope’s penalty save from Eberechi Eze provided the perfect tonic for Howe as he continues his recovery from pneumonia.
A 5-0 victory at St James’ Park left Newcastle four points adrift of second-placed Arsenal and five clear of Chelsea in sixth in the race for Champions League football ahead of Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.
Fielding the same line-up for the sixth successive game, they picked up where they had left off in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Manchester United with keeper Dean Henderson having to make a fine save after Bruno Guimaraes had picked out Murphy’s seventh-minute run and the wideman had pulled the ball back for Isak.
The Sweden international went close with a header from another Murphy cross two minutes later after Kieran Trippier had laid off the impressive Sandro Tonali’s stunning aerial pass, and although Palace looked dangerous on the counter, they were seeing too little of the ball to make a real impression.
Newcastle finally made the pressure tell with 14 minutes gone when Trippier fed Murphy once again and he blasted a rising shot past Henderson at his near post.
Will Hughes curled a 17th-minute attempt high and wide as the FA Cup semi-finalists looked for a response and Palace gradually edged their way into the game to bring Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta into play, although without genuine menace.
They were handed a route back into the game when referee Darren England, after being advised to review Pope’s challenge on Chris Richards as they challenged for Eze’s free-kick, pointed to the spot, but the England midfielder’s weak 36th-minute effort from 12 yards was saved easily by the keeper.
To rub salt into the wound, the Magpies went straight down the other end and Tino Livramento played Barnes into space and his cross was turned past Henderson by the unfortunate Guehi.
The home side increased their lead in first-half stoppage time when Tonali’s superb reverse pass allowed Barnes to race away and surge past defender Maxence Lacroix before firing past Henderson, and it was 4-0 before the whistle sounded, Schar glancing home from Murphy’s cross after Trippier’s short free-kick.
Isak might have scored a fifth after Dan Burn had flicked on a 52nd-minute Trippier free-kick, but steered his attempt straight at Henderson, but he did add his name to the scoresheet six minutes later when, after Joelinton had robbed Lacroix, he curled a right-foot shot past the helpless keeper.
Howe’s assistant Jason Tindall was able to make a raft of changes to save key players ahead of the trip to Villa Park, in the process removing the risk of Joelinton collecting a 10th booking of the season, as the Magpies eased across the finish line.
PA
