Alexander IsakGetty Images

Alexander Isak completed his hat-trick after only 54 minutes

Michael Emons
BBC Sport journalist at Portman Road

Alexander Isak scored a hat-trick as Newcastle United thrashed Ipswich Town, who remain without a home league win this season.

The visitors only needed 26 seconds to score after the hosts had kicked off.

Ipswich immediately sent the ball out for a throw-in, Fabian Schar played a long pass, Jacob Murphy ran down the right wing and his cross bounced off the heel of Sam Morsy with Isak firing the loose ball into the net.

The goal was originally ruled out for offside but following a lengthy check by the video assistant referee, it was given.

Murphy, who impressed throughout, added a second, shooting in off the underside of the crossbar after good work from Anthony Gordon.

Ipswich last won a home game in the top flight in April 2002 when they beat Middlesbrough 1-0 before being relegated.

Any hopes of a first success at Portman Road in this campaign ended in first-half injury time when Newcastle got a third goal.

Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric tried to play out from the back and knocked a pass to Jens Cajuste inside his own penalty area, but Bruno Guimaraes intercepted and Isak had the easy task of scoring his second.

His hat-trick came nine minutes into the second half, when he prodded home into the bottom corner after more good work from Murphy.

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For Newcastle, it rounded off a fantastic week that had already seen them beat Leicester City 4-0 and reach the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup with a 3-1 success over Brentford.

Isak's hat-trick takes him to 10 Premier League goals this season, only three behind the top scorers – Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Manchester City's Erling Haaland are on 13 apiece.

The hosts had come into this match after a 94th-minute winner in a 2-1 victory at Wolves, only their second win of the campaign in their return to the Premier League following back-to-back promotions.

That side and the one on Saturday included six players that had been with the team two seasons ago in League One but in truth, they were completely outplayed by a rampant Newcastle.

The only surprise was that it was only four goals for the visitors as they could, and probably should, have had more.

Sandro Tonali curled just over and Gordon, the wrong side of a home defender, had a free header but headed it down into the ground and it bounced up and over Muric's goal.

Isak wasted a one-on-one chance before being gifted his second - Newcastle's third - which killed the game as a contest.

Ipswich, without suspended top goalscorer Liam Delap, created very little and rarely tested Martin Dubravka in the away goal. The hosts' only efforts of note saw Cajuste, Sammie Szmodics and Ali Al-Hamadi fire over on a miserable day for the home supporters.

It will not get any easier for Town either as they play at Arsenal on 27 December before a home game against Chelsea three days' later.

Meanwhile, Newcastle, who played in the Champions League last season but missed out on European qualification for the 2024-25 campaign, secured one of their easiest wins of the campaign.

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Player of the match

A. Isak
9.41
1 A. Murić
5.54
26 D. O'Shea
3.65
12 J. Cajuste
3.63
33 N. Broadhead
3.61
3 L. Davis
3.61
15 C. Burgess
3.58
16 Ali Al Hamadi
3.58
5 Sam Morsy
3.57
23 S. Szmodics
3.56
2 H. Clarke
3.50
20 O. Hutchinson
3.48
8 K. Phillips
3.42
10 C. Chaplin
3.35
7 W. Burns
3.32
18 B. Johnson
3.23
14 J. Taylor
3.18
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After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.

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