Newcastle United had just moved up to fifth place in the table following a 5-1 win against Brentford at a rocking St James' Park. Yet Saturday's victory only felt like a mere glimpse of the Magpies' bright future on the one-year anniversary of the club's takeover.
There is certainly no danger of this group getting carried away under Eddie Howe, particularly with games against Manchester United, Spurs and Everton to come in the space of just six days, but this hammering was yet another reminder of how far Newcastle have come. Six goals were also scored in the corresponding fixture last season - Howe's first game in charge - but, unlike that 3-3 draw, there was a very different scoreline nearly a year on as Newcastle ran riot at St James'.
Yes, Brentford were poor - so poor - but Newcastle made the visitors look ordinary with the intensity in which they played as the hosts forced Thomas Frank's side into uncharacteristic errors. Howe's mantra is 'intensity is our identity' and the players have certainly embraced those four words; no other side in the Premier League has made more high turnovers (94) this season or had more turnovers ending in shots (17).
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As well as putting Brentford under pressure, clinical Newcastle took their chances, scoring five goals from just six shots on target. Was it any wonder Newcastle supporters repeatedly chanted: 'Geordie boys - take the p---'?
Newcastle have now scored at least four goals in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since Sir Bobby Robson was in charge. The Magpies have a long way to go yet to match the achievements of that great side, of course, but that statistic can only be a good omen.
This side will only get better in the next 12 months and beyond with further additions and more time under Howe, but watching owners Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben already know they have a star in Bruno Guimaraes. When Newcastle needed Bruno most at the weekend, the Brazil international stepped up not only with the Magpies' opening goal but, also, the hosts' crucial third.
Newcastle had earlier raced into a 2-0 lead following Bruno's opener and Jacob Murphy's second before Ivan Toney pulled one back in the 54th minute to silence St James' and swing the momentum of the game. However, the hosts did not panic or crumble like they would have a year ago. Quite the opposite in fact.
Newcastle responded just a couple of minutes later when Bruno, the man of the match, won the ball back just inside Brentford's half before advancing on goal and letting fly from 25 yards to restore his side's two-goal advantage. Bruno could have slipped in Joe Willock or Callum Wilson but, tellingly, the midfielder took the game by the scruff of the neck himself.
“Those moments in the games are testing moments," Howe told reporters after the game. "You concede, it’s 2-1 and the game is very much in the balance.
"Hopefully, we’re learning and improving all the time, and it was a brilliant response. It takes very good players to be able to affect games and I thought Bruno did all through the game.
"The finish for the third goal was excellent. He had players outside him so he could have passed the ball, but he decided to take responsibility himself and it was a great finish."
Newcastle went on to score a fourth through Miguel Almiron, in the 82nd minute, before Ethan Pinnock put through his own net at the death as the Magpies marked the first anniversary of the takeover in style. That sense of occasion only seemed to add to the atmosphere on an afternoon where Wor Flags unveiled a superb display in the Gallowgate End complete with a breaking news ticker featuring Simon Jordan's immortal words days before the buy-out was completed last year: 'Deader than a dead thing from dead land'.
Newcastle players fed off that energy from the crowd and defender Dan Burn could tell in the warm-up the hosts were going to start well as Howe kept faith with the side that put Fulham to the sword a week previously. Although Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo had a goal ruled out by VAR early on, it was the Magpies who ultimately struck the first blow.
You knew something was in the offing when Miguel Almiron, rather than Kieran Trippier, stepped up to take a corner in the 21st minute. Almiron is not Newcastle's usual set-piece taker, after all, and the forward played the ball short to the unmarked Trippier.
Trippier whipped a first-time delivery to the far post and there was Bruno Guimaraes to head Newcastle in front after the 24-year-old smartly directed the ball into the ground before it bounced past Raya into the back of the net.
If that was a move from the training ground, well, Brentford were the architects of their own downfall for Newcastle's second. Raya was pressed throughout and, as Jacob Murphy raced towards him, the goalkeeper's under-hit back-pass was seized upon by Callum Wilson just outside the box. Wilson took two touches before unselfishly squaring the ball across goal to Murphy, who slotted the ball through Ben Mee's legs to double Newcastle's advantage.
There was still so much time left, but it looked like there was no way back for Brentford. However, Frank's side rallied at the break and the Bees were handed a lifeline in the 54th minute when Aaron Hickey's header struck Burn's hand inside the area.
Toney was roundly booed as he stepped up to take the penalty against his former side, but the striker is among the very best in the business from the spot and sent Pope the wrong way to pull a goal back. Toney, Brentford's stand-in skipper, immediately rushed to the net to gather the ball so the game could get back under way as he raised his arm and urged the away end to raise the noise. Newcastle may have capitulated after such a setback once upon a time, but the Magpies quickly restored their two-goal advantage.
There were 56 minutes on the clock when Bruno dispossessed Hickey just inside Brentford's half. As the visitors backed off, Bruno drove towards goal before rifling the ball into the bottom corner from 25 yards. It was some response.
Newcastle were not done yet and the hosts soon had a fourth after forcing Brentford into yet another mistake in the 82nd minute. Ethan Pinnock, under pressure from Almiron, under-hit a back-pass to Raya and the Paraguay international raced onto the loose ball. Almiron coolly rounded the goalkeeper and lashed the ball into the net before leaping over the advertising hoardings to celebrate with supporters in the Gallowgate End.
Brentford were rocking and there was still time for substitute Joelinton's cross to be diverted into the net by Pinnock in the 90th minute as Newcastle scored five goals in a Premier League game for the first time in more than six years. You can't say the scoreline flattered them.
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