LONDON: Newcastle thrashed Crystal Palace 5-0 Wednesday for their second big win in four days and climbed to third place in the Premier League.
Four of the goals came in the first half at St. James’ Park, through Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar as well as an unfortunate own-goal by Marc Guehi. Sandwiched between them was a lazily taken penalty for Palace by Eberechi Eze that was saved by Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Alexander Isak added a fifth goal in the 58th minute — for his 21st of the campaign — as Newcastle followed up their 4-1 hammering of Manchester United on Sunday to make it six wins in a row in all competitions. That streak included a victory over Liverpool in the English League Cup final for a first major trophy in 70 years.
Newcastle jumped above Nottingham Forest and within four points of second-place Arsenal, and look in good shape for a return to the Champions League next season. The Premier League will have five representatives and Newcastle is five points clear of sixth-place Chelsea with six games remaining.
The dominant display will have made for good viewing for Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, who is recovering in the hospital after being diagnosed with pneumonia.
Howe also missed the Man United match — and Newcastle are doing just fine without him at the moment.
“Everyone has shared texts with him (Howe) and he’s on the road to recovery,” said Murphy, who had the goal of the night with a fierce, rising drive from an acute angle to set Newcastle on its way.
“We’re missing him but once again I think we put a performance in that he’d be really proud of.”
Palace conceded five goals for the second straight game, having lost 5-2 at Manchester City on Saturday.
“We’ve changed nothing but things aren’t working anymore,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said. “We have to be very honest — we’re Crystal Palace and if we don’t perform at our top level, Newcastle and Manchester City are better than us.”
Things might have been different had Eze converted the penalty — awarded after Pope missed the ball when attempting to punch clear and barged into Palace defender Chris Richards — when the score was 1-0.
Instead, Pope went the right way and flopped on Eze’s weak spot kick.
“When he scores, no one says anything,” Guehi said of Eze. “It happens. We just have to move on.”
