IT is a goal that will be replayed and talked about for many years to come. Having played the ball to Bruno Guimaraes, Miguel Almiron breaks into the corner of the penalty area to receive his fellow South American’s chipped pass.

Watching the ball loop over his shoulder, he flicks out his left foot to fire in a volley that arcs beyond Bernd Leno and finds the far top corner of the net. Inventive, instinctive, inspired. As Eddie Howe reflected after the game, “a magical goal from a magical player”.

Fourteen minutes later, and Almiron was claiming his second goal of the game to complete Newcastle’s scoring in their 4-1 thrashing of ten-man Fulham. Suffice to say, it was not such a memorable strike. Bursting in at the back post, the Paraguayan tapped home from close range to convert Joe Willock’s low cross and round off a flowing Magpies passing move.

Two very different goals, yet while the first is the one that deservedly hogged the headlines at the weekend, it is the second that Almiron needs to emulate as he looks to hold down a place in this Newcastle side.

For a player with his abundant attacking talents, Almiron’s tally of goals and assists has been the major blot on his copybook throughout his Magpies career. Saturday’s double made it 17 goals in 131 appearances in a Newcastle shirt, and while there are other aspects to his game that will always make him a valuable presence in the starting side – not least his abundant energy and relentless closing down of the opposition – ultimately, he will only merit a continued place in the side if he delivers in the final third.

Raheem Sterling was an attacking wide player who often flattered to deceive in the 18-yard box, but with Pep Guardiola encouraging him to spend more of his time inside the width of the goalposts, he added goals to his game to the extent that he was scoring 20-a-season before he left Manchester City to join Chelsea. Could Almiron aspire to something similar? Howe certainly hopes so.

“Miggy will be judged in lots of different ways because he’s not just a creative player, he’s an absolute work horse for us,” said the Newcastle head coach. “He does so much out of possession for us, so much unseen good that benefits the team, but ultimately, as an attacking player, he will be judged on his goals, assists and end product.

“To come away with two goals away from home, and very different goals in that, was great. To get a long-range volley and then a tap-in from the back post was great for him.

“We try to work hard with every player, to anaylse their games and try to give them a focus and an area to improve and develop. Miggy would be no different to any of our players in that respect.

“It’s about us, as a team, getting into good areas and then putting balls into really dangerous areas, and then filling those areas with players. It sounds simple, but it’s quite difficult to deliver, but Miggy has done that here and hopefully it’s a really good start for him.”

This was Newcastle collectively cutting loose, and while the eighth-minute dismissal of Nathaniel Chalobah for a studs-up challenge on Sean Longstaff undoubtedly aided the Magpies’ cause – for once, this was a case of VAR working as intended – Howe’s side deserve considerable credit for the ruthless way in which they exploited their numerical advantage.

Callum Wilson got the ball rolling three minutes after Chalobah was dismissed, stabbing home at the back post after Joe Willock headed Kieran Trippier’s cross back across goal, with Almiron’s 33rd-minute wonder strike doubling Newcastle’s lead.

Sean Longstaff, who had a fine game at the heart of midfield, made it three on the stroke of half-time as he stroked home the rebound after Leno had clawed Sven Botman’s header onto the post, with Almiron rounding off the visitors’ scoring shortly before the hour mark. Bobby Decordova-Reid’s 88th-minute header might have ruined Newcastle’s clean sheet, but it did little to mask the extent of the Magpies’ dominance.

While Newcastle had generally performed well in their first seven matches, they nevertheless headed into Saturday’s game without a league win since the opening weekend of the season. With that in mind, it felt like an important moment, and the emphatic nature of their victory means they can head into the next month ahead of the World Cup break looking up rather than down and with a spring in their step.

Wilson and Guimaraes are back, two players that are crucial to their attacking output, with Allan Saint-Maximin set to join them when Brentford visit Tyneside this weekend. Jacob Murphy made a positive impact as he returned to the starting line-up at Craven Cottage, with Joe Willock also producing his best display of the season so far as he delivered a timely reminder of the athleticism and drive that made him such an effective performer in the first few months of his Newcastle career.

“I hoped that was coming, but nothing’s ever guaranteed in football,” said Howe. “Every week, you have to give yourself a chance to win.

"I think we’ve done that, but we hadn’t finished our chances and let games slip away from us that were winnable.

“This was a pivotal moment in our season, really. I emphasised the importance of the game to the players.

"It could have gone one of two ways from that point, but they responded really well and I was delighted with the group as a whole.”