Newcastle United 4-0 Leicester City: Ruthless hosts inflict Van Nistelrooy´s first loss

Newcastle United ended their four-game Premier League winless streak with a 4-0 victory over Leicester City.

Eddie Howe’s side put their foot on the gas in the second half as three goals before the hour blew Ruud van Nistelrooy’s visitors away.

Jacob Murphy’s calm finish got the ball rolling in the first half as Leicester struggled to contain Newcastle.

Leicester introduced Danny Ward at the break, but the goalkeeper then had to pick the ball out of his net three times in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

Bruno Guimaraes nodded home Lewis Hall’s flick-on after 47 minutes, before Alexander Isak got in on the act.

Isak then raced through on the counter-attack to tee up Murphy for his second of the game on the hour.

Four goals and three points

A commanding display from @NUFC on home soil #NEWLEI pic.twitter.com/YXWybvWZrb

— Premier League (@premierleague) December 14, 2024

Data Debrief: Murphy inspires magnificent Magpies

Newcastle will bask in a superb home Premier League win this weekend as Howe’s charges got back to winning ways in dominant style on Tyneside. The ruthlessness of the hosts’ attackers came in sharp contrast to Leicester’s lack of output in Newcastle’s final third.

One shot on target across 90 minutes indicates just how toothless the visitors were, with Jamie Vardy completely isolated, as Stephy Mavididi and Kasey McAteer were forced to spend the majority of the game defending.

Vardy remains vital to Van Nistelrooy’s hopes of keeping Leicester away from relegation danger, and the evergreen striker played a key role in his opening two games in charge, with two goals and an assist.

Newcastle were at their best in attack, though, as Murphy grabbed his first league goal at St James’ Park in over a year.

Isak, meanwhile, scored his 20th Premier League goal of 2024, just the third time a Newcastle player has scored 20+ Premier League goals in a calendar year after Alan Shearer (22 in 1999, 27 in 2002) and Andrew Cole (24 in 1994).