Youri Tielemans marked his 100th Premier League appearance with two goals as Leicester City cruised to a 4-0 win over Newcastle United on Sunday.
Newcastle registered their first win of the season last week, but new manager Eddie Howe was handed a reality check at the King Power Stadium and there can be no doubts about the task at hand in attempting to salvage the Magpies' season.
Belgian midfielder Tielemans opened the scoring from the penalty spot seven minutes before the interval after midfielder James Maddison was brought down by Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles in the area.
Leicester doubled their lead 12 minutes after the restart when Patson Daka, starting in place of the benched Jamie Vardy, tapped home Harvey Barnes' square pass.
"We have an unbelievable striker in Jamie Vardy but he is human so we have to look after him," Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said. "Patson Daka is very important for us. He is a great goalscorer and he showed that."
Newcastle had the chance to halve the deficit when Leicester full-back Timothy Castagne's heavy back-pass to Kasper Schmeichel almost crept over the line but the goalkeeper just managed to clear to safety.
After that scare it was all Leicester, who made it 3-0 in the 81st minute as Tielemans grabbed his second following a fast break from the hosts. James Madison then capped a fine individual performance with his side's fourth as Leicester delivered the perfect response to their Europa League group stage exit on Thursday when they were eliminated following a 3-2 defeat at Napoli.
"When you come off the back of a disappointing result during the week, it's been a huge challenge. But we've always tried to develop a culture which supports players and gives others an opportunity," Rodgers said. "I'm delighted for the players to get a clean sheet and score four goals."
Leicester move up to eighth in the table, while Newcastle remain second-bottom, three points behind Watford in 17th and with a daunting run of fixtures ahead. Howe's side next face Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United in their next three matches.
"Every game is an opportunity," Howe said. "We're hugely frustrated by some of our moments in the game. If we'd have shown more composure in the attacking third we could have made more of the moments. We just let the game slip away from us.
"We're in a huge fight to stay in this division. We'll need to use the pain and feeling from today to help us in our journey this season."
