Newcastle United have taken another giant step towards qualifying for the Champions League following a 4-1 win against Everton at Goodison Park.
Callum Wilson opened the scoring with a poacher's finish before the half-hour mark and Joelinton headed Newcastle 2-0 in front in the 72nd minute. Wilson added a superb third with a curling strike just a few minutes later and, although Dwight McNeil pulled one back, substitute Jacob Murphy made it 4-1 late on.
Here are five things we learned from the game.
READ MORE: Everton vs Newcastle United highlights
Newcastle's ruthless response to Everton goal
It was Newcastle's biggest Premier League win since 2011, but Eddie Howe did not want his players to celebrate the 6-1 victory against Spurs on Sunday. Instead, in the immediate aftermath of the game, Howe spoke to the group about moving on to Everton 'very quickly'.
They had to. This is not a vintage Everton side, but Sean Dyche's team are fighting for their lives at the bottom end of the table, having lost just two of their previous seven games, and Newcastle had to show a different side of their game at Goodison in a niggly, bitty contest.
Remarkably - and scarily for their rivals - Newcastle were not even at their very best yet still scored four goals as the Magpies cut loose late on. Nothing quite epitomised the difference in quality quite like the visitors' fourth goal.
Dwight McNeil had pulled one back to make it 3-1 in the 80th minute, but Newcastle responded instantly. Substitute Alexander Isak superbly weaved past four Everton defenders before unselfishly teeing up Jacob Murphy. It was a ruthless response.
Callum Wilson stars as Jordan Pickford taunted
Even with Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy coming out of the side, after helping themselves to a double each against Spurs, on paper, Newcastle were not exactly weakened with two of the club's top scorers Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron recalled in their place. It showed the depth Newcastle now have up front - and that firepower ultimately proved the difference.
Whereas Everton failed to punish Newcastle for a sluggish start - Fabian Schar's last-ditch intervention prevented Dominic Calvert-Lewin opening the scoring - the Magpies' quality in the final third told in the 28th minute. Joelinton picked up the ball out on the left and cut inside Ben Godfrey before getting a shot away and Jordan Pickford could only palm the Brazilian's venomous effort into traffic. Wilson, ever the predator, gambled and fired home the rebound to silence Goodison in an instant.
If that goal showed the poacher's side of Wilson's game, well, the striker's second, and Newcastle's third, showed the other. Wilson picked up the ball on the edge of the area before taking a touch and bending it around Pickford on a night the away end taunted: "Pickford - what's the score?"
Wilson has now scored eight goals in his last six Premier League games against Everton. These strikes could be among his most important.
Newcastle pass another test to tighten grip on top four place
This was another test passed for this side. After all, by hook or by crook, these are just the sort of matches Newcastle have to win on the road to qualify for the Champions League. Newcastle are now in pole position to do just that after moving eight points clear of fifth-placed Spurs with a game in hand. No wonder the away end repeatedly chanted: "Tell me ma, me ma. I won't be home for tea. We're going to Italy!"
No grandstand finish this time
This was yet another chance for Newcastle to show how far they have come as a force. After all, it was around a similar stage of last season that Newcastle suffered a 1-0 defeat against 10-man Everton despite the scores being level in the 98th minute - and the Magpies needed no reminding of how Goodison could be a cauldron under the lights.
Even Everton recognised the power of that support in their survival bid and Sean Dyche changed preparations so his team arrived by bus instead of making their own way in their cars so they could feed off the crowd. The atmosphere was expected to be so fervent inside the stadium that Everton had to take the remarkable step of reminding their own supporters that the use of pyrotechnics, flares, smoke canisters and entering the field was a criminal offence. That did not stop them letting off fireworks outside the ground, though, before kick-off.
Newcastle knew what to expect. Bruno Guimaraes was the first to recognise that 'we know how difficult it is to play there', but the Brazil international stressed 'we are ready for the challenge'. Yet, after shaky openings on the road at Aston Villa, Brentford and West Ham in their previous three away games, Newcastle made another sloppy start at Goodison Park as they repeatedly gave the ball away.
However, crucially, Newcastle got the opening goal, through Wilson, and the Magpies then scored goals at important times in the second half. Joelinton's header killed off Everton in the 72nd minute before Wilson grabbed his second just a few minutes later and there was no danger of a grandstand finish when Murphy immediately cancelled out McNeil's consolation.
Anthony Gordon has last laugh
All eyes were on Anthony Gordon as the mid-season signing returned to Goodison Park for the first time since leaving his boyhood club in January. There is certainly no love lost between both parties.
Everton fans surrounded Gordon's car and told the Scouser he was 'not fit to wear the shirt' weeks before he missed training to force the move to Newcastle. Gordon, meanwhile, was 'hurt' by the club's cold statement following his departure after playing his part in keeping the Toffees up last season as both the players' player of the year and young player of the year. Remarkably, only Demarai Gray has scored more league goals for Everton this season despite Gordon leaving in January.
Gordon will have known what to expect on his return to his old stomping ground and the winger made a point of leading the subs out for the warm-up before the game to the sound of loud boos from Everton supporters. Gordon immediately made a beeline for the away end, to applaud Newcastle supporters, who repeatedly chanted his name.
During the game, meanwhile, the away end taunted: "Anthony Gordon - he left 'cos you're s---!" By the time Gordon entered the fray in the 87th minute, thousands of Everton fans had already left their seats.
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