A superb individual display from Georginio Wijnaldum guided Newcastle United to an impressive 6-2 win over Norwich City at St James' Park on Saturday.
Wijnaldum scored four goals, two either side of half-time, to propel Newcastle to their first win of the Premier League season.
However, it was not so one-sided throughout the entire contest, with Norwich striker Dieumerci Mbokani scoring an equaliser to make it 1-1 after Wijnaldum opened the scoring on 14 minutes.
The Dutchman scored again in the 26th minute to put the Magpies ahead 2-1.
Ayoze Perez made it 3-1 in favour of the home side before Nathan Redmond scored Norwich's second to make it 3-2 after 34 minutes.
Redmond's strike was the last of a staggering five goals scored in a 20-minute period during the first half.
The home side pulled away after the interval however, with Wijnaldum on target twice, while Aleksander Mirtovic also found the back of the net in the four-goal victory.
MATCH OVERVIEW
Newcastle United: 6 (Georginio Wijnaldum 14′/26′/66′/85′, Ayoze Pérez 33′, Aleksandar Mitrovic 64′)
Norwich City: 2 (Dieumerci Mbokani 20′, Nathan Redmond 34′)
St James' Park, Newcastle – 47,006
TALKING POINTS
- The much needed win has lifted the Geordies off the bottom of the Premier League ladder and may ease some of the pressure on Newcastle manager Steve McClaren.
- Norwich will be concerned not only by the magnitude of defeat to one of the Premier League's bottom teams, but also the nature of the defensive lapses which saw them concede six goals.
WHAT'S NEXT?
It's doesn't get much bigger for Newcastle than Sunday's Tyne Wear Derby clash with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Both clubs have started the season poorly and will be desperate to lift themselves out of the drop zone with a win over their nearest rivals.
Norwich return to Carrow Road where they will have the opportunity to leapfrog 13th placed West Bromwich Albion.
TWITTER INSIGHT
Great day yesterday. Lads were brilliant fans were amazing. Was fantastic to be back playing at St James again. Lets build on it
#nufc
— Robert Elliot (@the_dilsh)
October 19, 2015
Yesssssss 3 points well done boys Amazing 4 goals from Gini hopefully 1st of many more Hattricks to come!
#GINI #6-2 pic.twitter.com/tibVfTgiCE
— Tim Krul (@TimKrul)
October 18, 2015
First game of the season. First win of the season. What a performance from the whole team and of course
@GWijnaldumpic.twitter.com/s4DVDFjbqr
— Paul Dummett (@PaulDummett)
October 18, 2015
QUOTES CORNER
Newcastle boss McLaren discussing his side's first win of the season:
"It's relief, and then thinking we have got to prepare and we have got to do it again next week.
"It's very short, the feeling is very short. Football is all about momentum and you can have momentum going the other way - which we have had. We want this one to go forward."
Norwich manager Alex Neil likens the fixture to a basketball game:
"To be honest, I thought the game was wide-open - it was a bit like a basketball match. I thought both teams were wide-open.
"It could have ended pretty much 8-8, but the opportunities we had, unfortunately we didn't score, we hit the post or whatever, and pretty much most of the opportunities Newcastle had ended up in the back of the net."
STATS SPECIALS
*Thanks to Opta
8 - Newcastle United v Norwich City saw eight goals scored; the most seen in a PL game so far in the 2015/16 campaign. Bonanza.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 18, 20156 - Newcastle United scored with all six of their shots on target. Unremitting.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 18, 20152 - Wijnaldum is only the 2nd Newcastle United player ever to score 4+ goals in a single PL match (Shearer v Sheff Weds, Sep 1999). Heroic.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 18, 2015