Joelinton marked his 100th Premier League appearance with two goals as Newcastle moved up to ninth and sent Norwich closer to relegation.

Joelinton scored the opener when he swept a lovely finish into the top corner from Allan Saint-Maximin’s pass.

He added a second when he slotted in at a tight angle from Jacob Murphy’s ball after Newcastle got in behind Norwich’s defence.

Those were only his third and fourth goals of the season.

Another Brazilian in Bruno Guimaraes scored United’s third, chipping Tim Krul after the Norwich keeper had passed the ball directly to him.

Only Liverpool have picked up more Premier League points in 2022 than Newcastle’s 32. This is the first time since May 2014 that Newcastle have been as high as ninth this far into a season – and that is despite them spending 150 days in the relegation zone.

Five months a long time in football

When these sides met in November, a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park, Newcastle were bottom of the table with no wins from 14 games. No team had ever stayed up from that position.

Norwich were three points and two places above them.

But Newcastle’s fortunes have turned entirely with the Saudi Arabian takeover, Howe’s management and several big January signings.

One of Howe’s biggest successes has been changing Joelinton from a goal-shy striker to a combative midfielder – although he was back up front in this game as £25m Chris Wood was left on the bench.

His first goal came when Norwich defenders failed to clear Saint-Maximin’s pass after good wing play by Murphy, a goal which eventually stood after a video assistant referee check for a possible Murphy offside.

Guimaraes sent Murphy and Joe Willock through with a lovely through ball – as both got in behind the Norwich defense – with Joelinton scoring from Murphy’s ball at the back post.

Norwich were well beaten by the time Krul’s lazy pass to Kenny McLean was cut out by £35m winter recruit Guimaraes, who lofted the ball over the Dutch keeper.

Joelinton had one chance for a hat-trick, shooting at Krul from outside the box, before he was replaced by Miguel Almiron in the 67th minute.

At one stage Newcastle fans were dreaming of 17th place and safety. Now they are 15 points clear of the relegation zone.

Things could have been different had Dowell taken either of his first-half chances for Norwich. First he lobbed over from Mathias Normann’s pass and then he sliced ​​over from Teemu Pukki’s cut-back.

Dean Smith’s side’s fate is all but sealed now with eight points to catch up in five games – plus a worse goal difference and more games played than most of the teams above them.

Even if Pukki had scored a chance when he fired wide of the far post, they never looked like coming back.