SHEFFIELD: Newcastle came close to matching the Premier League’s record margin of victory as they thrashed Sheffield United 8-0 at Bramall Lane on Sunday.

Eddie Howe’s side ran riot with eight different players on target including, Sean Longstaff, Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Callum Wilson, Anthony Gordon, Mig­uel Almiron, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak.

The biggest winning margin in the Premier League era is 9-0, a score recorded by Manchester United against Ipswich and Southampton in 1995 and 2021 respectively.

Liverpool won 9-0 against Bournemouth last year while Leicester managed it against Southampton in 2019.

Sheffield United’s largest ever league defeat sent the Blades to the bottom of the Premier League table.

With just one point from their first six games back in the English top flight, Paul Heckingbottom’s future as manager is now in doubt.

“The first-half goals we conceded were really poor, but it’s the second half I’m upset with,” said Heckingbottom.

“The errors that led to goals, a lot of things I’d never seen before, and there’s certain things that aren’t acceptable.”

Newcastle had lost three of their opening five league games of the season to dampen expectations that the Saudi-backed Magpies could challenge for the title.But Newcastle showed no signs of fatigue and they exhibited their strength in depth as they became the first side in Premier League history to have eight different scorers in one match, not including own goals.

Sheffield fell apart as Newcastle struck three times in a 14-minute spell.

Longstaff swept home Gordon’s cross before centre-backs Dan Burn and Sven Botman headed home from Kieran Trippier crosses.

Trippier had a hat-trick of assists shortly after the break as he set up Wilson.

It was 5-0 just after the hour mark when Gordon capped a scintillating display by cutting inside and curling a fine 20-yard shot into the bottom corner.

Almiron’s sweet strike found the bottom corner to make it six before Guimaraes converted a loose ball in the area.

Substitute Isak completed the rout by latching on to a loose header from Tom Davies.

Victory lifts Newcastle up to eighth and within five points of the top four.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023