IT wasn’t quite the six-goal hammering of Spurs, but by the end of a scintillating second-half display that took Newcastle United another giant step closer to the Champions League, it wasn’t far off.

The Magpies contended themselves with scoring four goals against a bedraggled Everton side who increasingly look destined for the Championship, with their abundance of in-form attackers ultimately proving decisive.

Callum Wilson helped himself to a brace, the second of which came courtesy of a fantastic long-range finish, with Joelinton and Jacob Murphy also finding the net, just as they had at the weekend. Even Fabian Schar found the net from 25 yards in stoppage time, only for his shot to be ruled out for offside.

Ultimately, Newcastle’s win was every bit as emphatic as their dismantling of Tottenham, and if anything, it was even more impressive because it was achieved amid a bear-pit of an atmosphere at Goodison Park and required a high degree of defensive resilience before Eddie Howe’s players were able to cut loose. As the last month has proved, if Newcastle can hang in a game when their opponents are on top, they are more than capable of racking up two or three goals in the blink of an eye when things tilt in their favour.

They had to dig in during the opening stages last night, indeed they failed to record a single shot on target in the opening 28 minutes. When they did threaten though, they made it count.

The Magpies had struggled to find any kind of fluency in the opening quarter, with passes going astray as Everton’s players pressed aggressively, high up the field. Joelinton had been one of the worst culprits in terms of giving the ball away in the early stages, but the Brazilian can be relied upon to retain a positive approach, and he was the architect of his side’s opener.

Driving in from the left, he drilled in a low shot that Jordan Pickford could only parry. The ball rebounded off James Tarkowski, and dropped invitingly for the recalled Wilson, who was able to stab home.

The goal took much of the sting out of what had been a difficult evening to that stage, and things might have been different had Schar not produced a wonderful first-half challenge to prevent Dominic Calvert-Lewin getting a shot away. Calvert-Lewin had the ball in the net as he broke clear on the stroke of half-time, but had mistimed his run by a manner of inches to be caught offside.

With the home crowd becoming increasingly anxious, it felt as though a second Newcastle goal would prove decisive, and it almost arrived a minute into the second half. Joe Willock’s shot looked to be heading in after he burst infield from the left, but Tarkowski stuck out a leg to deflect the ball wide of the upright.

Nick Pope was finally called into action at the other end moments later, getting down well to his right to parry a shot from Calvert-Lewin after Alex Iwobi had swatted aside Matt Targett to break clear, and while Pickford made a brilliant save to tip Willock’s goal-bound half-volley around the post, the floodgates were about to open as Newcastle flexed their attacking muscles to devastating effect.

Willock was the architect of the Magpies’ second, driving past Ben Godfrey to reach the byline and stand up a cross that was expertly headed home by Joelinton.

Three minutes later, and two was becoming three. Wilson still had an awful lot to do as he received the ball from Bruno Guimaraes, but after stepping inside his opponent, Newcastle’s number nine cracked home a sensational 20-yard strike that arced into the top corner.

Everton pulled a goal back when Dwight McNeil’s corner evaded everyone, including Pope, and nestled in the corner of the net, but that was just the signal for a fourth Newcastle goal. Alexander Isak did superbly down the left, dancing past four Everton defenders before delivering a cross that was tapped home by his fellow replacement Jacob Murphy.