Newcastle United continued their quest for a UEFA Champions League spot with a 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United at St James’ Park on Sunday.
Assistants Jason Tindall and Graeme Jones took charge of Newcastle in the absence of Eddie Howe, who was unavailable due to ill-health, and the players responded with a fine performance as they recorded a first league double over Manchester United in 94 years.
United manager Ruben Amorim dropped first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana after his two errors against Lyon in Thursday’s 2-2 UEFA Europa League quarter-final first-leg draw, but replacement Altay Bayındır was guilty of a serious mistake of his own.
The Turkey international clipped a ball straight to Joelinton who headed into the path of Bruno Guimaraes to make it 4-1, 13 minutes from time.
The hosts were the better side for the majority of the encounter and opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Alexander Isak’s lobbed pass over the visiting defence ended with Sandro Tonali finding the net.
Manchester United equalised against the run of play 13 minutes later, Alejandro Garnacho shooting beyond Nick Pope for his side’s first goal in three top-flight games.
But Newcastle moved up to fourth spot — just a point behind third-placed Nottingham Forest — when Harvey Barnes put the game out of reach with two second-half goals.
After tapping home Jacob Murphy’s pass across the six-yard area to make it 2-1 in the 49th minute, Barnes produced a ruthless finish 15 minutes later after a slip by Noussair Mazraoui.
Bayindir’s howler then compounded Manchester United’s misery.
United, who lost Joshua Zirkzee to a suspected hamstring injury, dropped below Everton on goal difference to 14th in the table — and just three points off fourth-bottom West Ham.
The Red Devils have now lost 10 of their 21 English Premier League games under Ruben Amorim, who was appointed in November.
