Leicester City were torn apart on Tyneside as Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first away game as manager ended in the club’s heaviest defeat of the season.
Second best throughout, [City](https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/all-about/leicester-city-fc) gave up far too many chances to a Newcastle side that had arrived into the game out of form. Jacob Murphy scored in the first half and then, after Mads Hermansen went off at the break, the hosts added three in 15 minutes at the start of the second period through Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak, and a second for Murphy.
With Ipswich scoring a last-minute winner at Wolves, the gap to the bottom three is now down to two points. It only adds extra importance to next weekend's clash with relegation rivals Wolves.
Two of the three changes van Nistelrooy made were enforced and expected, with Oliver Skipp and Hamza Choudhury starting in place of the injured Wilfred Ndidi and suspended Boubakary Soumare. For Choudhury, it was a first league start of the season, and first appearance since September. The other change saw Stephy Mavididi, and not Facundo Buonanotte, replace Jordan Ayew.
After an edgy opening few minutes, Newcastle created the first chance of the match, Hermansen diving high to expertly tip Anthony Gordon’s drive over. That moment gave the home side confidence and they went on to dominate the half, creating chances at a consistent rate, City unable to break free from the pressure.
Murphy had a chance to score when Joelinton’s shot rebounded kindly to him, only for the winger to put his effort wide. But he made no mistake when a well-worked short corner freed Gordon, who teed up Murphy to place into the net.
Isak, a menace to the City defence all afternoon, should have doubled Newcastle’s lead but hit his one-on-one straight at Hermansen. Guimaraes then made a burst through and went down in the box, the Brazilian penalised for diving. He somehow avoided a yellow card, which led to controversy when he was booked for a late foul on Mavididi moments later.
Hermansen did not re-emerge for the second half, with Danny Ward introduced for his first league appearance in 22 months.
The Welshman’s first job was to pick the ball out of his net. City defended a free-kick woefully, with Lewis Hall given space at the back post to nod across for Bruno to finish.
Newcastle weren’t done there. Gordon and Hall combined down City’s right and crossed, with Conor Coady deflecting the ball into Isak’s path for a free header into the net. Then the Swede’s intricate dribbling attracted the whole City defence, allowing him to play in Murphy to hammer home the fourth. Here's how we scored the players.
**Mads Hermansen:** He made a fine save early on, tipping over Gordon’s drive, and made sure to get involved often with his feet, albeit the attackers were not alert enough to his forward passes. Three goals conceded in 15 minutes after he went off tells a story too. **6**
**James Justin:** Like many full-backs do, he struggled against Gordon, who was too tricky and combined too well with Hall to keep quiet. He did read the game well to intercept at times, but while he moved forward with energy, he was wasteful on the ball. **4**
**Conor Coady:** He was quiet in the first half, but that’s not all bad for a centre-back as it means it’s a mistake-free performance. But he did fluff a chance to clear for Isak’s goal and then, when moved into midfield, the game passed him by. **5**
**Jannik Vestergaard:** He started really well, shutting down Isak, calming City down and spreading play well. But then, for half-hour, Isak ran him ragged, leading to Newcastle’s burst of goals. At 4-0, he produced some excellent last-ditch blocks and headers to stop the scoreline becoming more embarrassing. **6**
**Victor Kristiansen:** Newcastle had such joy down their left that they didn’t really attack Kristiansen’s flank, but neither did the Dane make a positive impact on the match. In the second half, he got sucked in too far and gave up all sorts of space to Murphy. **4**
**Hamza Choudhury:** After three months without playing, a rusty display was always possible. But Choudhury was half a second off the pace and that exposes a player in the Premier League. A lack of alertness and poor forward passes meant he really struggled. **3**
**Oliver Skipp:** There were a couple of moments in the first half where he worked himself or the ball out of a tight spot and into space, and those typically led to City’s clearer openings. However, he was dominated by Newcastle’s midfield for the rest of the afternoon. **4**
**Kasey McAteer:** He never stops running, but City need more quality from him. He loses the ball too often and his end product isn’t there, albeit he did improve when he switched to the left. He seemed to frustrate van Nistelrooy in not showing enough for it either. **4**
**Bilal El Khannouss:** City’s best player. He moved his body well to fool defenders and wriggle free, carrying the ball with confidence and feeding good passes into forward areas. City just didn’t get him in possession often enough. **6**
**Stephy Mavididi:** He looked sharp in the very early stages when Newcastle were nervy, allowing the winger to dribble at the back-line. But he didn’t create any threat around the box and grew quieter as the game went on. **4**
**Jamie Vardy:** There were a couple of nice flicks into team-mates’ feet and he challenged Burn for every he could, despite the obvious disadvantage. But really he was just too isolated. **5**
**Danny Ward:** In his first league appearance for 22 months, his first two tasks were to pick the ball out of his net. He positioned himself well to make a couple of decent saves, but didn't inspire confidence. **4**
**Caleb Okoli:** Got a toe on the ball every now and again, but recklessly slid in late on too. Didn't improve the team. **4**
**Facundo Buonanotte:** He showed perhaps why Mavididi had been selected over him in the 11, with the Argentinian's touch poor. Perhaps his worst showing since joining. **4**
**Patson Daka:** He was feeding off scraps, but he couldn't get the ball down and so had no impact. **4**
**Bobby De Cordova-Reid:** Only on the pitch for a few minutes, by which time the game was over. **N/A**