Newcastle showed a new approach in the absence of manager Eddie Howe by thrashing Crystal Palace to move up to third in the Premier League table.
The Magpies beat the Eagles in a match that looked more tense as efforts from Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar and Alexander Isak, along with an own goal from Marc Guehi and a superb save from Nick Pope from the penalty spot from Eberechi Eze, provided the perfect boost for Howe as he continues to recover from pneumonia.
The 5-0 win at St James' Park left Newcastle four points behind second-placed Arsenal and five ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea in the race for a Champions League place ahead of Saturday's game at Aston Villa.
Having retained the same line-up for a sixth game in a row, they picked up where they left off in Sunday's 4-1 win over Manchester United, with goalkeeper Dean Henderson forced into a superb save after Bruno Guimaraes denied Murphy in the seventh minute and the winger crossed for Isak.
Two minutes later, the Sweden international headed close after another of Murphy's crosses had been cleared by Kieran Trippier after Sandro Tonali's impressive aerial pass. Although Palace looked dangerous on the counter-attack, they had too little possession to create a real threat.
Newcastle finally put pressure on 14 minutes when Trippier fed Murphy again and he fired past Henderson into the near corner.
Will Hughes fired high and wide on 17 minutes as the FA Cup semi-finalists awaited a response and Palace gradually came into the game, bringing on Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta, albeit without any real threat.
They were given a chance to get back into the game when referee Darren England, who was advised to review Pope's tackle on Chris Richards during a challenge for the penalty area,
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
