On the back of a lengthy winless run, the emphasis was firmly on Burnley, but their start could hardly have been any worse.
A little over a minute was on the clock when Anthony Gordon burst down the left and swept in a delivery which Joelinton turned home at the near post.
Things went from bad to worse a matter of minutes later when Yoane Wissa caused havoc inside the Burnley box, and after Bruno Guimaraes was denied by Martin Dubravka, Wissa managed to turn the ball home at the second attempt to mark his full league debut for the club in style.
Burnley rarely threatened, but they did manage to claw a goal back out of the blue through Josh Laurent, who volleyed home at the far post after Armando Broja’s flick on found him unmarked at the back post.
Although it wasn’t all one-way traffic, it was Newcastle having the best opportunities, with Eddie Howe’s men passing up two great openings when Wissa first headed wide unmarked from point-blank range, before Burnley-born Harvey Barnes was denied one-on-one by Dubravka.
Whatever Burnley boss Scott Parker said at half-time clearly did the trick, as his side came out rejuvenated after the break.
They looked much brighter in the second half and forced ex-Claret Nick Pope into two smart stops when he first denied Loum Tchaouna before smartly thwarting Marcus Edwards with his feet.
He was left stranded just moments later when he watched Laurent’s header bounce away to safety off the crossbar, as Parker’s men began to ponder the consequences of not taking any of their chances when Tchaouna headed wide from six yards at the far post.
Burnley were almost made to rue them 10 minutes from time when Bashir Humphreys headed Malick Thiaw’s header off the line, just seconds before Jacob Murphy skewed over at the far post when he had an unguarded net.
Parker’s reluctance to look to his bench certainly didn’t aid his side’s chances, and they fizzled out in the closing stages as the hosts slumped to an eighth defeat from their last 10 Premier League games.
The evening belonged to Newcastle, who secured only a second victory in their last 13 away league games and made the victory more handsome in stoppage time when Guimaraes added a third after a defensive mix-up from Burnley.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Joelinton (Newcastle United)