Soccer Football - Premier League - Newcastle United v Leicester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - December 14, 2024 Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Scott Heppell
NEWCASTLE, England (Reuters) -Newcastle United forward Jacob Murphy netted a goal in each half as his side hammered Leicester City 4-0 in their Premier League clash at St James' Park on Saturday when the visiting Foxes suffered a defensive collapse early in the second half.
The 52,235 home fans in attendance got to see a full 90 minutes of the kind of swashbuckling football they love as their side rose to 11th in the table on 23 points, while Leicester are 16th on 14, two points above the relegation zone.
Newcastle dominated throughout, keeping Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen busy in the first half, and it took a well-worked set piece for the home side to go ahead, with Anthony Gordon teeing up Murphy from a short corner for the latter to drill home from the edge of the box.
Hermansen was replaced in goal by Danny Ward at the break, prompting Leicester's resistance to crumble.
Newcastle went two up early in the second half with another perfectly-executed set piece as Lewis Hall headed the ball back across goal for Bruno Guimares to head home.
Their third goal came shortly afterwards when Conor Coady’s attempted clearance only helped Hall’s cross into the path of Isak, who stopped to nod it into the net.
Murphy should have done better when Isak set him up in the 52nd minute only for him to miss the target, but he made no mistake on the hour mark when Isak again found him on the right and he drove the ball through Ward's legs to make it 4-0.
Newcastle's all-out attack never let up and though they could not score again, they finished with a tally of 27 shots on goal with 11 of them on target.
Leicester managed four, with only one of them troubling Magpies keeper Martin Dubravka as they slumped to an embarrassing defeat -- Ruud van Nistelrooy's first since taking charge of the club.
"It was a big challenge to come here and if you give away the goals from set-pieces, we are not doing ourselves a favour. We could improve the structure in which we want to play with the ball. We are in a process of two weeks together," the Dutch coach told the BBC.
His opposite number Eddie Howe was delighted to see the hard work done on the training ground paying off.
"The first goal was important, it took a well-worked set play to set the ball rolling, and the second goal was important too, so we were able to express ourselves a little bit more," he told the BBC.
"We’re disappointed we haven’t been able to show that more this season. Today was one of our better performances."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)
