Alexander Isak scored twice in Newcastle’s 5-1 thrashing of Aston Villa.
Newcastle finished fourth last season to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years and their rise under the control of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund shows no sign of stopping.
Italian international Sandro Tonali enjoyed a dream debut as he fired the Magpies into the lead after just six minutes.
Villa equalised almost immediately through one of their own new signings Moussa Diaby.
But Unai Emery’s men, who also ended last season strongly to qualify for Europe, collapsed after Isak restored Newcastle’s lead.
The Swedish striker calmly slotted home his second just before the hour mark.
Harvey Barnes then came off the bench to exemplify Newcastle’s new-found strength in depth as the former Leicester winger teed up Callum Wilson to make it 4-1 and then rounded off the scoring himself in stoppage time to put Eddie Howe’s men top of the table.
