Watford continued their impressive start to the season by embarrassing Newcastle United and inflicting a fourth straight defeat on the hosts.
Goals from Will Hughes, Andre Gray and an own goal from DeAndre Yedlin sees the Hornets make it two wins in a week despite ongoing speculation regarding manager Marco Silva’s future.
For Rafael Benitez’ men, yet another defeat means they slip closer towards relegation trouble - with a trip to West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday now seen as a must-win ahead of a difficult Christmas fixture list.
Mohammed Diame received the nod in central midfield ahead of the returning Mikel Merino, who had to settle for a place on the substitutes bench.
Bright Magpies start
Jacob Murphy, on his first start at St James' Park, emerged as the Magpies bright spark in the first-half, and almost assisted an opener for Joselu.
The former Norwich City winger cut the ball back for the striker, but the Spaniard disappointingly sliced his shot off target.
Eight minutes later, Murphy then picked out Matt Ritchie on the edge of the area before striking his effort into the side netting.
And that is as good as it got for the hosts.
Just as Dwight Gayle was intercepted well in the opposition area, Richarlison almost broke the deadlock on the counter-attack as Rob Elliott performed well to tip his low shot round the post.
Watford open the scoring
And the Hornets' first sniff at a goal by the Brazillian was a sign of things to come as just a few minutes later, the visitors were in front.
A fabulous crossfield ball from Adrian Marriappa allowed Marvin Zeegelaar to take the ball down on the right-hand side and find the run of Hughes, who made no mistake.
That was beginning of a dreadful afternoon for Yedlin.
Within a blink of an eye, Watford could and should have been 2-0 up as Abdoulaye Doucoure somehow fired wide despite being unmarked at the back post.
Toon create half chances before Hornet deliver soccer punch
The Magpies reacted by continuing to create half opportunities, though the visitors always looked dangerous on the break.
Joselu, on two occasions, was fed the ball on the right-hand side of the box - seeing one blocked effort and the other roll along the six-yard box.
The Magpies lack of quality in the final third was there for everyone to see.
And just as Benitez already prepared a huge half-time team talk, the Hornets devastatingly doubled their advantage, just seconds before the break.
Zeegelaar was again the supplier from an almost identical position to his first as Yedlin couldn't help but divert the ball past his own goalkeeper.
Watford should be out of sight
Three minutes after the restart, United's response was non-existent as Gray and Richarlison had golden chances to kill the game off.
Gray beat the offside trap to run clear but with just Elliott to beat, shot into the side-netting.
In the 54th minute, Florian Lejeune's slip allowed Richarlison another clear opportunity but the winger tried to walk the ball into the net rather than take an early shot on.
The Hornets get the all-important third
Watford's start to the second-half was nothing more of an assurance that they'd go on to seal the three points - which happened in the 62nd minute.
The right-hand side was the Magpies weakness for a third time as Richarlison delicately floated a cross to the back post, which Gray converted.
Benitez introduced Aleksander Mitrovic, Merino and Ayoze Perez in the final 20 minutes but none had any bearing on the scoreline.
And while Watford stepped down into second gear, they still continued to create chances with Gray and Tom Cleverley squandering late chances.