Alexander Isak became the first Newcastle player since Alan Shearer in 2003-04 to score 20 Premier League goals in a season as Eddie Howe’s team stepped up their bid for another season of European football – while pushing Burnley closer to the drop.
Isak’s landmark goal – Newcastle’s fourth in an impressive victory – came moments after he had a tame penalty saved by Ari Muric.
But the Swede quickly amends with a cool close range finish to add to first half goals from Callum Wilson, Sean Longstaff and Bruno Guimaraes as the Geordies chalked up their fifth win in seven games to leapfrog Manchester United into sixth place.
They have three games left, including a showdown with Erik Ten Hag’s at Old Trafford a week on Wednesday, to nail down a Europa League spot.
Howe said: ‘We’d love to get back into Europe. With 10 games to go we re-set our targets and since the international break I think we’ve seen a big improvement in our general performances so we need to keep that going for the last three games.
Alexander Isak took his tally to 20 Premier League goals in a season against a dire Burnley
Callum Wilson was in the right place to tap-in for Newcastle’s opener within 20 minutes
Dara O’Shea scored a consolation header, but it was far too late for a sorry Burnley side
‘Confidence is gradually returning to the group, strength is returning to the group – as you could tell by the bench today – so it was a good day for us.
‘We knew Burnley would come out firing and the crowd would play a part in that so I was really pleased with the reaction to that tough start and from when we scored our first goal onwards I thought it was a really good display.’
It was a familiar story for Burnley who now need a miracle to avoid a quick return to the Championship after their improved recent run of results – one defeat in eight before yesterday – came to a crashing halt.
With Nottingham Forest winning at Bramall Lane, the Clarets are five points from safety with two games left.
They started brightly but failed to turn their dominance into goals and had penalty appeals rejected by referee Anthony Taylor when Guimaraes bundled over Lorenz Assignon.
But they collapsed after Wilson put Newcastle ahead from their first attack in the 19th minute and boss Vincent Kompany admitted: ‘We had the opportunity in the first 15 minutes to make better use of our momentum but after that credit to Newcastle for their attacking play.
‘It was a debatable penalty incident but there was a three goals difference in the end and we were beaten by a better team today.’
Newcastle took complete control with two goals in five minutes towards the end of the first half with Longstaff and Guimaraes firing home clinical first-time shots, set up respectively by Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon, who with Wilson will have impressed watching England boss Gareth Southgate.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley lost the opportunity to control their own destiny in survival fight
A clean strike from Bruno Guimaraes put Newcastle 3-0 up at Turf Moor before half-time
Burnley remain in 19th place in the league, five points from safety with two games remaining
Isak added the fourth from another Murphy pass 10 minutes into the second half. It came moments after Muric had saved his spot kick following Josh Brownhill’s challenge on Gordon – the sixth penalty the former Everton player has won this season.
Newcastle were then in cruise control until Dara O’Shea’s looping header earned Burnley a late consolation.
