Newcastle 4-0 Palace: Magic Murphy inspires Mags on emotional day at SJP

Well what was impressive. An outstanding first half display and so many superb performances as Newcastle United saw off Crystal Palace 4-0 at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon.

The visitors had conceded just seven goals in their opening eight games, but were blown away by our movement, intensity, crisp passing and attacking intent, as goals from Jacob Murphy, Anthony Gordon and Sean Longstaff saw us race into a 3-0 lead before Callum Wilson made it four in the second half.

The win sends us up to 5th in the Premier League, where we have the best goal difference (+15), the most goals scored (24 in nine games) and six clean sheets in our last eight in all competitions.

We made four changes, as Wilson, Murphy, Gordon and Joelinton replaced Isak, Almiron, Anderson and Tonali, with the Italian on the bench in what may be his last appearance in our matchday squad for some time.

The opening 45 was one of the most dominant first halves we've seen at St James' Park since Eddie Howe took the job, with Jacob Murphy opening the scoring with a lovely lob just four minutes in. It was initially disallowed, but VAR checks shows Trippier was onside as his cushioned first time pass fell to the winger.

A superb start and we were relentless after that, with so many flowing and penetrative attacks coming down our right. Whether it was the superb link up between Trippier, Murphy and Longstaff, Gordon cutting in and spreading the play, Schar carrying the ball from deep or Bruno running rings around the Palace midfield, they just couldn't live with us in any department.

After a stinging shot from Murphy, a Longstaff cut-back that was almost turned in, Gordon hitting the bar following more great play down the right and Wilson heading wide from Trippier's delivery, we finally made our dominance and 65% possession count to make it 2-0. Once again, Murphy was at he heart of it, as he ignored Trippier's overlap and put it on a plate for Gordon, who made no mistake this time with a back post finish hit into the ground and in.

It was the least we deserved just before the break after 45 minutes of utter dominance and free flowing football, but we made it 3-0 before the half-time break. Marc Guehi's slip allowed Longstaff to steal in and our local lad did the rest, keeping a calm head to fire past Johnstone and into the far corner.

We came out from the break at it once again, although we did have a few bits of defending to do as crucial blocks from Lascelles and Schar kept our clean sheet intact before we made it four. This one came on the counter and Murphy was heavily involved again, curling a lovely ball in behind for Wilson, who took one touch and finished with the other. His 43rd league goal in a Newcastle shirt, sending him level with Andy Cole and Shola Ameobi.

Four changes followed on the 69th minute, as Wilson, Gordon, Trippier and Bruno were replaced by Isak, Almiron, Livramento and Tonali. The Italian received a huge roar of support in what looks set to be his last St James' Park appearance for some time.

We almost made it five as Isak sent Almiron clean through. The Paraguayan used his pace to edge just ahead of Mitchell, but the left-back was on his heels and his shot was too close to Johnstone. Elliot Anderson replaced Joelinton with 10 minutes to play and we saw out the win, with Nick Pope making a couple of late saves - including one impressive stop to tip over Edouard's free kick - to seal his sixth clean sheet in our last eight games.

Murphy was my man of the match with a goal and two superb assists, but just about every player in black and white did themselves proud. Schar was outstanding at the back, Trippier dominated down the right, Burn was defensively brilliant, Gordon electric, Bruno ran the show and Longstaff did so much great work on and off the ball, with one superb first time pass setting up one sweeping counter attack in the second half. Are you watching, Gareth Southgate? On a day where all four of our scorers were English, I sincerely hope so!

For all of our great play during the game, our post-match lap of the pitch created perhaps the best moment of the afternoon, as an emotional Sandro Tonali was shown so much love by the St James' Park crowd. He looked visibly teary but will have left the stadium knowing he has 52,000 Geordies, a top man manager and squad of brothers by his side in his fight against gambling addiction.

4-0 Newcastle and a brilliant afternoon for Eddie Howe's Mags, keeping the momentum going ahead of next week's Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.

HWTL!