Harvey Barnes scored twice to send Newcastle United fourth in the Premier League with a 4-1 win over Manchester United at St. James' Park.

A dominant Newcastle, whose boss Eddie Howe was absent due to illness, saw a Joelinton goal disallowed for offside in the opening minute, after Kieran Trippier had strayed past the last man before playing the cross.

However, they took a deserved lead through Sandro Tonali, who watched Alexander Isak's flick all the way to meet it on the volley.

Alejandro Garnacho restored parity with a breakaway goal before the break. Diogo Dalot drove through midfield before setting up the Argentinian to slot it through Fabian Schar's legs.

But Barnes came to the fore with two goals in the space of 15 minutes after the break, tapping his first into an empty net before drilling in a second with a powerful effort after Noussair Mazraoui had slipped.

A mistake from Altay Bayindir – who replaced the beleaguered Andre Onana in United's goal – enabled Newcastle to add more gloss in the 77th minute. 

The goalkeeper's attempt to play out from the back was blocked by Joelinton, who then picked out Bruno Guimaraes to slot in their fourth.

Newcastle are now one point behind third-placed Nottingham Forest, with a game in hand on the teams around them, while United drop below Everton into 14th on goal difference. 

Data Debrief: Magpies keep Champions League hopes alive

Newcastle have kept themselves firmly in the mix for a top-five finish, and continued to show that they are one of the in-form teams in the competition.

They have won 12 of their last 16 Premier League games (L4), a sequence which began with a 4-0 win over Leicester City on December 14. Since that date, only Liverpool (P18 - W12 D5 L1 - 41 points) have earned more points in the competition than Newcastle (36), having played two more games.

This victory also secured the Magpies a first-ever Premier League double over United, and their first overall since 1930-31, as they piled more misery on their visitors.

United have now suffered 14 league defeats this season - their joint-highest tally in a single Premier League campaign (also 14 last term). The last time they had more was in 1989-90 (16 in 38 games).