Eddie Howe's latest Newcastle United masterstroke emptied the London Stadium

Howe's third-placed side convincingly beat a shambolic West Ham United team 5-1 at the London Stadium thanks to two goals apiece from Callum Wilson and Joelinton and a strike from substitute Alexander Isak.

The performance all but emptied the London Stadium – as home fans had seen enough long before the final whistle.

Newcastle’s head coach had recalled Wilson and Joelinton to his starting XI for the game. Wilson replaced the in-form Isak in the starting XI, while Joelinton started ahead of Joe Willock, who had felt his hamstring in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United.

The decision to leave out Isak ahead of Saturday’s game away to Brentford had been questioned by some fans given his form – but it paid off.

Relegation-threatened West Ham tried to make a fast start. Jarrod Bowen broke down the right, and his low cross was turned on to the post by Bruno Guimaraes. Declan Rice put a foll0w-up effort over the bar.

The game quickly unravelled for West Ham after that let-off for Newcastle.

In the sixth minute, a Kieran Trippier corner was only cleared as far as Allan Saint-Maximin on the right, and the winger picked out Wilson with a left-footed cross. The striker did the rest, heading home to make it two goals from two games.

Joelinton, making his first start for more than a month, then got in on the act. Fabian Schar played a simple ball over the top for the midfielder, who ran on to it and rounded Lukasz Fabianski.

The strike was ruled out for offside after assistant referee flagged, but the goal was awarded following a VAR check which showed Emerson Palmieri had played him onside by the slightest of margins.

Newcastle had seemingly taken complete control of the game in the space of seven minutes – and the home side looked stunned.

They rallied, and Nick Pope turned a low free-kick from Lucas Paqueta, a house guest of Guimaraes on Tyneside late last season, round his post.

If West Ham were going to get back in the team, it looked like it would be from a mistake from the visiting side, and Howe made his unhappiness at his team’s sloppiness clear during a break in play.

However, Newcastle still went on to concede before the break. Pope missed a corner from Bowen with an attempted punch, and Kurt Zouma – who had lost his marker – headed home from close range.

Whatever Howe said at the break, worked, his team regained control of the game seconds after the restart.

Jacob Murphy took the ball off Nayef Aguerd on the right, and crossed for Wilson, who finished into the empty net. The strike took Wilson’s career tally against West Ham to 12 from 13 games for Newcastle and Bournemouth.

Howe sent on Isak was sent on in the 64th minute, and the striker seized on a mistake from Fabianski to score a fourth goal for the visitors. The stadium had emptied by the time Joelinton made it 5-1 in the 90th minute.

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Pope, Trippier (Manquillo, 87), Schar, Botman, Burn (Targett, 85), Guimaraes, Longstaff, Joelinton, Murphy (Gordon, 64), Wilson (Isak, 63), Saint-Maximin (Willock, 64). Subs: Dubravka, Lascelles, Ritchie, Anderson.