Newcastle take revenge on Man United as the away end empties early

Newcastle put on a show on Sunday as they beat Manchester United 2-0 at St James' Park.

Second half goals from Joe Willock and Callum Wilson secured the points for Newcastle, as Erik ten Hag's side registered just one shot on target.

It was an especially damaging result for the Red Devils, as Newcastle have now leapfrogged them into third place.

Tottenham can push United down to fifth with a win over Everton on Monday, although they will have played an extra game.

Here, Sportsmail's Craig Hope reviews some of the aspects of the match you might have missed.

Revenge for Newcastle

The main talking point in the press room afterwards was that, on reflection, February’s Carabao Cup final could not have come at a worse time for Newcastle. There was an inevitability about their defeat to Manchester United that day, so cold had they gone in attack.

Here, they were red hot all over the park. Joe Willock, scorer of the opener, was only fit enough for an 11-minute cameo at Wembley, while fellow scorer Callum Wilson played 89 minutes in the final but did so on one leg.

Casemiro and Marcus Rashford had netted in the 2-0 victory but United were without the former here and might as well have been missing the latter, so shackled was he by England team-mate Kieran Trippier.

Early exit for the away fans

Rashford was among a group of United players dragged back from the tunnel on full-time to offer applause to the away following. The only problem was, most of their fans had long since started the seven-storey descent to the ground.

The visiting team would have been better off gesturing their appreciation in the wake of Wilson’s goal on 88 minutes, before the fire drill.

Mind games come back to bite Ten hag

It was no coincidence that Erik ten Hag had lunch with Sir Alex Ferguson the week before the Carabao Cup final, and duly engaged in mind games by labelling Newcastle ‘annoying’ opponents.

He had warned the officials to be wary of their time-wasting tactics. Well, the watch was on the other hand here. As Newcastle laid siege to United’s goal in the first half, David de Gea took an age with his goal-kicks and Luke Shaw had a similarly casual approach to throw-ins.

Eddie Howe waved his arms in protest. It was only after the opening goal that Newcastle employed those dark arts of their own and United, unsurprisingly, were not happy. How annoying.

No more McTominay heroics

This felt like something of an audition for Scott McTominay, given he resides fairly high on Newcastle’s list of summer targets.

It is said the midfielder fancies the move, too. Not that Howe sees him as a No.10, which is where he was deployed in the first half. Had Ten Hag watched the 26-year-old score four times over two games for Scotland and thought it a good idea to reinvent him at club level?

If so, it did not work. McTominay was lost and only found his rhythm when reverted to a deeper role. By then, Newcastle were already in firm control.

Toon headed for Europe

‘The what?’ said Howe when asked by Sportsmail about the Champions League afterwards. Naively, we repeated the question. But the Newcastle boss had made his point - he is not yet willing to engage in talk of a top-four finish.

He will have to soon enough, though, given his team are up into third and look to have found their very best form just in time for the run-in.

The bookies now make them odds-on to be playing in the Champions League next season. See, our question wasn’t that daft.