Newcastle United have rediscovered the same clinical edge they had before the World Cup break earlier this season - just at the right time.
Toon head coach Eddie Howe was unhappy with sloppy defending against West Ham, but could not fault the way his side converted five chances at the London Stadium to rack up the club's biggest Premier League away win since 1998. Given that victory was away to Coventry City, who haven't played top-flight in two decades, and the game was at the long since demolished Highfield Road it shows how long it has been for fans to enjoy such a goal-laden top-flight away day.
For Howe, though it is all about the here and now, ahead of Brentford he summed up the good place his Newcastle squad are in at the present moment. Howe said: "Probably, since the World Cup, I don’t think we’ve been as clinical as we maybe were in the first part of the season. I think we’ve created a load of chances, but haven’t taken them.
