Newcastle United produced a dominant performance to thrash Manchester United 4-1 at St James’ Park on Sunday, April 13th, strengthening their bid for Champions League qualification despite the absence of manager Eddie Howe due to illness. A second-half double from Harvey Barnes helped secure Newcastle’s first league double over Manchester United since the 1930-31 season.
Howe was admitted to hospital on Friday after feeling unwell, leaving assistants Jason Tindall and Graeme Jones in charge. The team responded emphatically, overwhelming a struggling Manchester United side. Sandro Tonali opened the scoring in the 24th minute, finishing clinically after being set up by Alexander Isak.
Manchester United equalized against the run of play eight minutes before halftime through Alejandro Garnacho, scoring their first goal in three Premier League games.
However, Newcastle regained control decisively after the break. Harvey Barnes tapped home a Jacob Murphy cross in the 49th minute to restore the lead. The former Leicester winger scored his second 15 minutes later, capitalizing on a slip by Noussair Mazraoui before finishing ruthlessly.
Manchester United’s misery was compounded in the 77th minute by a significant error from goalkeeper Altay Bayındır. Making his Premier League debut after manager Ruben Amorim dropped André Onana following errors in midweek, the Turkish international clipped a clearance straight to Joelinton, who headed the ball into the path of Bruno Guimarães to score Newcastle’s fourth. United also lost striker Joshua Zirkzee to a suspected hamstring injury during the match.
The victory lifts Newcastle into fourth place in the Premier League table with 56 points, boosting their Champions League hopes significantly now that five spots are confirmed for English teams. Manchester United, meanwhile, drop to 14th place on 38 points after their 10th league defeat in 21 games under Amorim, just three points above 17th-placed West Ham.
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