With a 3-0 victory at Leicester, Newcastle proved they can compete for the Premier League crown by moving up to second place in the standings.
Despite the six-week layoff, Eddie Howe's Magpies were able to easily secure three points at the King Power Stadium after a thrilling first 32 minutes of the season.
After just seven minutes, they were up 2-0 thanks to a penalty from Chris Wood and a beautiful goal from Miguel Almiron. Joelinton added a third goal shortly after the halfway point. As a result, Leicester was unable to recover and fell four points behind leaders Arsenal, who played later on Boxing Day.
Despite having gone 45 days without one, they have now won six straight Premier League games, which is their best streak since 2012. Howe's team is demonstrating that a brilliant first half of the season was not a fluke.
There is still much to be done, and it is unclear whether the Magpies possess the talent necessary to keep up with Arsenal and Manchester City. For the first time in 20 years, Newcastle fans will be hoping for at least a top-four finish as the January transfer window approaches.
Without James Maddison, Leicester struggled early in the season and were unable to recover after being destroyed by Newcastle's quick start. Brendan Rodgers would not have expected his team to trail Newcastle 2-0 after just seven minutes of play because they came out firing.
After Daniel Amartey had hacked down Joelinton, Chris Wood, who was filling in for the injured Callum Wilson, slammed home a powerful penalty kick to give the visitors the lead in the third minute.
Almiron scored a picture-perfect goal four minutes later to make it 2-0 and continue the scorching form he displayed prior to the World Cup. He played a lovely one-two with Bruno Guimaraes after Kieran Trippier gave him space down the right, cut inside, and calmly slid the ball past Danny Ward for his eighth goal in nine Premier League games.
Although Leicester started to relax, they were aware that they needed to score the next goal, which they nearly did when Patson Daka was sent through by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
The striker fired a shot that Nick Pope, who was closing in, blocked, but it rebounded off Daka and back toward goal, requiring Sven Botman to clear the ball away with a few extra yards to spare.
When Joelinton was left unchecked to head in Trippier's corner in the 32nd minute, Newcastle were the ones to score again as a result of poor set-piece defending.
Newcastle played more of a defensive game in the second half, but they still had opportunities to score more goals. Botman missed a shot from a good position, and Almiron had an attempt blocked. But because the work had already been done, Newcastle had only lost once in their first 16 games.
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