Blue smoke. A police escort. Deafening boos. Fireworks outside the stadium. Newcastle United's trip to Everton felt like a European night so it was a rather fitting examination of the Magpies' Champions League credentials. After all, you can't get to the Bernabeu without first conquering Goodison Park - and that is what the visitors did during a 4-1 rout on Thursday night.
Even the previously measured Callum Wilson acknowledged: "It's getting closer. The games are running out" after the number nine scored a double on Merseyside. That is an understatement. Newcastle are now eight points clear of fifth-placed Spurs with a game in hand and a superior goal difference to boot. Yes, there are six matches to go still but in this sort of form, it is hard to see how Newcastle do not return to Europe's top table for the first time in two decades following a seismic few days in the race for the top four.
Having put Spurs to the sword in the first half at the weekend, Newcastle did so after the break against Everton this time around after building on Wilson's 28th-minute opener. Joelinton, Wilson (once more) and substitute Jacob Murphy duly went on to find the back of the net in the space of just six minutes late on as the visitors cut loose.
