A JUBILANT Graeme Souness has claimed that Michael Owen and Alan Shearer are as good as any strike partnership he has been involved with during his long and illustrious footballing career.

The deadly duo claimed all four goals on Saturday as Newcastle brushed aside West Ham to claim their third away win of the season.

With both players having suffered injuries in recent months, Saturday's game was only their eighth outing together since Owen made a £16m move from Real Madrid in the summer.

Those eight outings have brought a combined tally of ten goals and, while Souness has worked with some mouth-watering strike pairings during spells at the likes of Liverpool, Sampdoria and Rangers, he has not seen a more talented twosome than Newcastle's current attack.

"I've worked with some great strike partnerships, both as a manager and a player," said the Magpies boss, who, along with Owen, will make an emotional return to Anfield on Boxing Day.

"I think Kenny (Dalglish) and (Ian) Rush were a very special partnership. Similarly, (Roberto) Mancini and (Gianluca) Vialli were two great attackers who complimented each other really well.

"Michael and Alan are definitely in that class. You couldn't slide a piece of paper between any of those players. In terms of their football, they all gave something very special to the teams they were playing in.

"I think it's fair to say that our strikers made the difference (on Saturday). Michael's been missing in recent weeks and we've missed him sorely.

"We also know what Alan is. At 35, he's still a very big player for our team and the two of them were fantastic.

"We felt that, if we could get at the West Ham defence, we could score goals. That's exactly how it turned out."

Owen's hat-trick underlined the all-round strength of his game, with the striker terrorising a hesitant West Ham defence both on the ground and in the air.

Hamstring and groin problems have limited his opportunities on Tyneside but, with seven goals in eight games, Souness feels he has already justified his multi-million pound price tag.

"Michael is Mr Goals," he said. "Whatever he cost, it was worth it. I think the game against Argentina a month ago showed exactly what he is about. You keep him quiet all game long and then, in the last couple of minutes, he pops up with a couple of match-winning goals.

"It was exactly the same in this game. West Ham no doubt thought they were keeping him quiet, but he still came up with the goods.

"I could sense their back four were very nervous about playing against Michael. They know that, as well as being exceptionally quick - and that's something his parents will have given him in his genes - Michael has got an incredibly sharp footballing brain.

"He generally gets the ball quicker than the defender because he's anticipating what's going to happen. As well as his pace, he also thinks quickly."

Owen's presence has also helped to rejuvenate Alan Shearer, with the 35-year-old producing two of his best displays of the season in last weekend's triumph over Arsenal and Saturday's win at West Ham.

The United skipper moved to within one goal of Jackie Milburn's all-time record with his 66th-minute strike, and was equally effective at the other end of the pitch as he cleared James Collins' goalbound effort off the line.

"Alan is arguably the best of his type of centre-forward in the country today," said Souness. "We know he hasn't got the legs that he had seven or eight years ago, but he's still a very big player for us. He's vital to us, both on the pitch and off it. He is our flag carrier.

"When the game became a bit more stretched, we were thinking about trying to get a bit more pace up front. But you substitute Alan at your peril because he does such a great job in his own penalty area at set-pieces.

"We decided to keep him on because we were coming under a bit of pressure and he made some important interceptions for us at the back."

It was just as well that he did because, on the whole, Newcastle's defending left a lot to be desired. Both full-backs struggled against the pace of Marlon Harewood and Matthew Etherington, while neither Titus Bramble nor Jean-Alain Boumsong ever looked totally comfortable against the lively Bobby Zamora.

The duo continued to lay their bodies on the line, though, and Souness revealed they had both overcome late injury worries to take their place in their side.

"It was touch and go whether either of our centre-halves played," he explained. "We're stretched right down to the bare bones in that area.

"Titus had to have an injection in his groin before the game and we weren't sure that Jean-Alain was going to make it right up to handing in the team sheet.

"He was involved in a nasty collision with Shola Ameobi in training on Thursday and got a real dead leg. He was carried off the training ground on Thursday so he's done really well to recover and play."

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