Here are your Newcastle United headlines for Thursday, April 6..
£128m rebuild progress
Newcastle United were 3-1 up against West Ham, but Eddie Howe was not finished yet. Far from sitting back at the London Stadium, the Newcastle boss went for the throat in the 64th minute and threw on Joe Willock, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.
Newcastle have a lot of work to do this summer, of course, but to put that depth into perspective, the trio cost an estimated £128m in transfer fees if you include add-ons. It is hard to think of a more expensive triple substitution in the club's history and they all made an impact. It was Gordon, for instance, who won the ball back with a sliding challenge on Emerson in his own half in the build-up to Isak scoring Newcastle's fourth while Willock, a thriving survivor from the Ashley era, also gave the visitors fresh impetus in the 5-1 rout.
READ MORE: Newcastle players' ruthless 'celebrations' should worry rivals and Eddie Howe explains anger
With injured top scorer Miguel Almiron the club's only absentee at the moment, Howe now goes into games knowing he has players sitting behind him who can either change matches or turn the screw. That is what has happened in each of the last four fixtures which, far from coincidentally, Newcastle have finished strongly and won.
Eddie Howe pays big tribute to Joelinton
Eddie Howe admits that Newcastle United missed Joelinton badly during his two-match suspension - despite still winning without him.
Anybody in doubt of Joelinton's importance need only note the X-factor that he brought to the side in the 5-1 battering of West Ham at the London Stadium. His rock solid presence on the field and bustling runs were on show against the relegation threatened Hammers.
Speaking after his two goal haul in London, Howe said: “I’m really pleased for Joey (Joelinton) because he had a suspension, and we missed him. It’s been a long time, or at least it feels like a long time since he’s played.
"But again, it’s credit to his professionalism. Since that absence, he’s come in and he’s impacted the game."
Saint-Maximin hails fans
Allan Saint-Maximin says that Newcastle United's frightening competition for places can help push them into the Champions League.
The French winger was in sensational form at West Ham as he ran at the home defence all night and caused no end of problems for the relegation-haunted London club. Saint-Maximin's injury troubles now seem behind him but after the game he wanted to talk about standards for Newcastle.
Saint-Maximin told Chronicle Live:"We are very happy with the performance. We talk about consistency and it was very important to win that game (West Ham).
"If you want to get in the top four that is the type of game we are going to have to win. So we're happy with that. "Especially because we scored a lot of goals, it really was very good."
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