Newcastle United cemented their Champion League push with a 5-1 demolition job over West Ham at the London Stadium on Wednesday.
Callum Wilson and Joelinton both scored two while substitute Alexander Isak scored the other on a dreadful night for relegation-haunted West Ham.
Wilson scored early in each half, to take his goal tally to 12 in 13 meetings with the Hammers, meaning only Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen have netted more times against them in the Premier League.
Joelinton also scored again before Kurt Zouma pulled one back for the hosts, but West Ham fell apart after half-time.
Awful mistakes by Nayef Aguerd – just 21 seconds into the second half – and Lukasz Fabianski gifted further goals to Wilson and Isak before Joelinton helped himself to number five.
The Magpies remain in third place and well on course for a Champions League place for the first time since Sir Bobby Robson's side qualified in 2003.
“Massive win. Well played by the whole team,” said Joelinton. “We started the game really well. We stopped playing a bit and let them come back into it. But we came to the second half better.
“I'm very happy to win today. Five goals is great.
“We knew it would be a difficult game. We had to keep going with the three points.
“It's very important to score goals. We kept going. Most important was the three points. Now it's rest and then the next game.”
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Callum Wilson celebrates after scoring Newcastle United's third goal in their 5-1 Premier League victory over West Ham United at the London Stadium on April 5, 2023. Getty -
Joelinton scores Newcastle's fifth goal. PA -
Joelinton celebrates with Javier Manquillo after scoring his second and Newcastle's fifth goal. Reuters -
Newcastle substitute Alexander Isak scores their fourth goal. PA -
Newcastle's Alexander Isak celebrates after scoring. AP -
Callum Wilson scores his second and Newcastle's third goal. Getty -
Joelinton celebrates after scoring for Newcastle. Getty -
Kurt Zouma pulls a goal back for West Ham. Reuters -
A big screen displays the VAR review after Joelinton's first goal was given. Reuters -
Newcastle midfielder Joelinton rounds Lukasz Fabianski of West Ham United to make it 2-0. Getty -
West Ham's Kurt Zouma celebrates after scoring. PA -
Newcastle's Joelinton, left, celebrates after scoring. AP -
Callum Wilson heads home Newcastle's first goal. Getty -
Newcastle's Callum Wilson celebrates with teammates after scoring. PA
It could have been very different had West Ham taken the lead with just 40 seconds on the clock when Jarrod Bowen sprinted past Dan Burn down the right and his low cross was turned on to his own post by Bruno Guimaraes.
However, their bubble was burst when Wilson struck. He had scored in the third minute of the reverse fixture at St James' Park in February, but had to wait until the sixth minute in East London.
When a corner was only half-cleared Allan Saint-Maximin chipped the ball into the box where Wilson got ahead of Zouma and nodded home.
The England international had promised podcast pal Michail Antonio he would dance the Macarena when he scored, and he was as good as his word.
Newcastle were dancing with joy again seven minutes later after Joelinton raced on to Fabian Schar's through-ball and rounded Fabianski.
An offside flag put the celebrations on ice but a VAR review showed Emerson Palmieri, on the far side of the pitch, had played Joelinton on.
Yet West Ham halved the lead six minutes before half-time when Nick Pope, who had just received treatment for an injury, missed his attempted punch at Bowen's corner and Zouma headed home.
But any hopes of a comeback were dashed at the start of the second half when Aguerd got the ball stuck under his feet in the area and was robbed by Jacob Murphy, who squared for Wilson to tap into an empty net.
Fabianski made fine saves from Murphy and Saint-Maximin, but he made an almighty mess of clearing Guimaraes' ball over the top eight minutes from time, allowing Isak to lob the ball into an empty net, before Joelinton broke clear at the death to complete a comprehensive Toon triumph.
Newcastle are third with 53 points from 28 games while West Ham are 15th with 27 points and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
