Premier League: Murphy's quickfire double guides Newcastle to fifth

Leicester, April 8 (IANS) Newcastle United boosted their hopes of UEFA Champions League qualification and pushed Leicester City closer to relegation with a crushing 3-0 win at King Power Stadium.

After several rivals for a top-four Premier League finish dropped points over the weekend, Newcastle took their chance to go fifth in the table with an emphatic showing.

Jacob Murphy's quickfire double gave Eddie Howe's men a two-goal advantage early on at the King Power Stadium, before Harvey Barnes turned home a third before the break.

While Newcastle with one game in hand, go one point clear of Manchester City and are only behind Chelsea on goal difference, Leicester stay 15 points adrift of 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers, with only 21 points to play for.

"Really pleased. A massive win for us. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. We started really well and that gave us the foundation to go and win," Newcastle manager Howe said.

Leicester coach Ruud van Nistelrooy said, "It's clear where it went wrong very early in the game again.

"If we look at the three goals carefully we could have done better in all three. Newcastle are deadly on counter attack and finished the game very quickly."

Newcastle have won 11 of their last 15 Premier League matches (L4), starting with a 4-0 win over Leicester on 14th December; only Liverpool (38) have more points in the competition since then than the Magpies’ 33.

Leicester are the first side in the top four tiers of English football to lose eight successive home league matches without scoring.