Newcastle United roared to third place in the Premier League – and closer to Champions League qualification – with a crushing victory over Crystal Palace at St James’ Park.
Still without manager Eddie Howe, who continues to recover from pneumonia, the Magpies delivered a ruthless first-half display to race to a 4-0 lead and deal another blow to the Eagles’ own hopes of playing in Europe next season.
Jacob Murphy set the tone for the big win with the 14th-minute opener as the winger’s right-foot strike from a very tight angle squeezed past Dean Henderson at his near post.
Palace had a chance to level when Henderson’s counterpart Nick Pope caught Chris Richards inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot after being referred to the pitchside monitor by the video assistant referee (VAR).
But the Newcastle goalkeeper redeemed himself with a comfortable save to stop Eberechi Eze’s tame spot-kick.
It proved a costly miss as Newcastle doubled their lead in the 38th minute when Palace defender Marc Guehi, who also scored an own goal when these sides last met in November, turned a Harvey Barnes cross into his own net.
Barnes then claimed a goal for himself in first-half injury time – his fourth in three games – when he beat Maxence Lacroix with a brilliant step-over and then fired across Henderson.
The home fans were in full voice before the break as Murphy’s cross in the eighth minute of added time was headed home by Fabian Schar to further extend the advantage.
Alexander Isak, who had only scored once in past six games, bagged his 25th goal of the season when Joelinton robbed possession from Lacroix and the Sweden striker planted a fine 25-yard finish into the bottom corner.
The success was Newcastle’s biggest of the season and moved them two points clear of Nottingham Forest and four behind second-placed Arsenal with six games left.
The closest the visitors came to a consolation was when Daniel Munoz’s header was blocked on the line by his team-mate Eddie Nketiah.
Oliver Glasner’s side, who have conceded five goals for the second game running after a 5-2 loss at Manchester City, remain 12th in the table with 43 points.
