Gini fires Newcastle

Georginio Wijnaldum plundered four goals as Newcastle United thrashed Norwich City 6-2 at St James' Park on Sunday to belatedly claim their first win of the Premier League season.

Wijnaldum was a member of the Holland team that had failed to qualify for Euro 2016 earlier in the week, but he shrugged off the disappointment with a brilliant quadruple that eased some of the pressure on Newcastle manager Steve McClaren.

Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic also found the net, while Moussa Sissoko played his part with four assists, as Newcastle secured a league victory at the ninth attempt ahead of next weekend's trip to northeast derby rivals Sunderland, who replaced them at the foot of the table.

"I thought the front four were excellent, especially 'Gini'," said McClaren.

"I'm so pleased for everyone at the club. We've had to be patient, the fans especially."

Wijnaldum told Sky Sports: "Of course we needed the win. We played a few games when we played good, but at end of the game, we only had one point.

"Every day we work hard to get the result we got today (Sunday)."

Norwich were 3-2 down at half-time, having scored through Dieumerci Mbokani -- making his full league debut -- and Nathan Redmond, who also hit the post in the second half.

But despite a strong start to the second period they ended up well beaten, leaving Alex Neil's side just three points above the relegation zone in 16th place.

Newcastle showed four changes to the team thrashed 6-1 by Manchester City on their previous outing -- in which Sergio Aguero had scored five goals -- with Rob Elliot notably replacing Tim Krul in goal after the Dutchman ruptured knee ligaments on international duty.