Leicester 0 Newcastle 3: Toon continue red-hot form after season restart thanks to Wood, Almiron and Joelinton
MANCHESTER CITY might not be the only ones Arsenal have to worry about threatening top spot.
That is certainly the case if you listen to Newcastle fans, who spent their Boxing Day singing about their mighty Magpies lifting the title.
It may be a Christmas wish too many, but on this evidence you cannot deny them the dream in this most bizarre of seasons as Eddie Howe’s side moved above the champions and into second thanks to this thumping victory over Leicester.
These were two of the form teams heading into the World Cup break six weeks ago.
It appears one used their time off better than the other.
The travelling Toon started as if they’d never been away, while the feeble Foxes don’t appear to be back just yet.
Howe’s entertainers had Leicester beaten after just seven minutes.
Stand in striker Chris Wood opened the scoring from the spot on three minutes and the Magpies’ new superstar, Miguel Almiron, all but sealed a sixth straight Prem win with his ice cool finish four minutes later.
Joelinton made it three just after the half-hour mark to truly spark talk of title triumphs in the away end.
The Foxes though looked like the team which started the season heading for a relegation battle rather than the slick side which had entered the break on the up.
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As well as lacking fight and desire, Leicester were also without James Maddison, forced to wait for his Prem return thanks to trouble still being caused by a knee injury picked up on the eve of the World Cup.
Meanwhile, Calum Wilson was a surprise absence through illness for the visitors, who are still unable to call on summer signing Alexander Isak following his thigh injury.
Wood banished any doubts over whether he would be up to the task by blasting his spot-kick straight down the middle past Danny Ward.
The penalty no doubt bettered any present Howe unwrapped on Christmas Day.
Daniel Amartey, who before the break had forged a fine partnership with Wout Faes, almost sent Joelinton skyward as his attempted clearance caught the Brazilian instead of the ball just inside the box.
The return of defensive frailties to the King Power was just one of a number of huge steps in the wrong direction on show here.
No sooner had Welshman Ward fished Wood’s penalty out of the back of his net, he was back there again – this time undone by some Miggy magic.
Almiron had seven Prem goals in his last eight games before the break and looks even sharper thanks to six weeks resting up.
The Paraguayan, transformed under Howe in the last few months, collected a floated ball down the right from Kieran Trippier and got to work.
Almiron drove forward, drifted inside and exchanged a swift one-two with Bruno Guimaraes before slipping between two blue shirts and dumbfounding Ward with a cool low finish into the bottom left.
With Maddison watching from the stands in a puffer jacket and woolly hat, the creative burden was on academy graduate Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
And the midfielder almost unlocked the black and white defence with a deft ball in behind for Patson Daka.
The striker rushed forward, only for Nick Pope to get there first. Pope’s block cannoned back off Daka and towards the goal but summer signing Sven Botman slid across to clear just in time.
After a brief flirtation with trying to get back into this game, the Foxes were soon trudging back to the halfway line, heads bowed having shot themselves in the foot again.
Set pieces were an Achilles heel for the Foxes at the start of the campaign and appear to be a problem once more.
Boubakary Soumare put up nothing in the way of a fight as Joelinton rose highest from Trippier’s out-swinging corner to crash home just his second goal of the season.
The Foxes had dished out “honesty flags” to fans to get the Boxing Day atmosphere going before kick-off. The honesty part, apparently, reflected the fact the club would like them left behind after the game for further use. They needn’t have worried about any home fans wanting a memento from this.
Rodgers sent on Jamie Vardy at the break, but their fate was long sealed.
Aside from a slight scare when a Botman clearance hit Dan Burn and only just slipped wide of Pope’s goal, Newcastle eased through to full-time, serenaded by the Toon Army all the way.
The home end was silent throughout and half empty by the end.
Rodgers had worked so hard before the break to get his side back on track following a disastrous start.
Having had no real backing in the summer window, Rodgers had got a grip of his squad on the training ground – but they appeared to have forgotten everything he had told them on what was his 300th game as a Premier League boss.
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The ex-Liverpool boss is hopeful of adding a left-back and a right winger in the January market, and will likely need it if they are to avoid a slump back to the sorry days of the opening weeks of this season.
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