Premier League: Newcastle 3 Manchester United 0

Newcastle United ended their 18-match winless run against Manchester United emphatically winning 3-0 on Wednesday.

The champions suffered their second consecutive league defeat thanks to strikes by Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye.

Ba, playing his final game for the Magpies before jetting off to the African Nations for Senegal, proved a handful and his instinctive 33rd minute strike left the fans delighted.

United, still reeling from their loss to Blackburn, struggled to create obvious chances and found the situation worse two minutes after half time following a fantastic free kick from Cabaye that all but sealed the points.

The champions did muster a chance through Wayne Rooney but ultimately Phil Jones’ own goal ended their chances of keeping pace with league leaders Manchester City.

Newcastle started brightly and had an early chance after Cheikh Tiote battled his way through three challenges in a congested middle before feeding the ball to Ryan Taylor on the right.

His low cross to Ba seemed perfect but he completely missed the ball from 10 yards out.

United keeper Anders Lindegaard, who entered the game having yet to concede a Premier League goal, was called into action shotly after.

Taylor’s second significant cross was chested down by Ba to Cabaye but his left-footed strike was gathered safely.

United captain Patrice Evra hit back testing Tim Krul, who beat the ball away and was fortunate the rebound was just short of Rooney.

The in-form Dimitar Berbatov came closest to breaking the deadlock as the Red Devil’s began to dominate possession.

After a fluid midfield move that started with a deceptive pirouette by Rooney, Evra’s cross found Berbatov but his header was deflected by Davide Santon onto the post.

Referee Howard Webb caused controversy in the 25th minute, denying Alan Pardew’s side a penalty after a tangle of legs between Rio Ferdinand and Ba.

The striker appeared to reach the ball first before tumbling under a clumsy challenge by Ferdinand. Webb, though turned down the appeals.

Newcastle’s grievances were short-lived as eight minutes later they opened the scoring.

Krul’s long set piece was nodded on by Shola Ameobi to Ba. The striker, with14 goals from his last 14 league games, volleyed past Lindegaard.

Ba threatened United’s defence early and Jones gave away a free kick with a mistimed tackle.

Cabaye’s 25-yard strike swerved over the United wall and fractionally under their crossbar.

In stoppage time, Krul’s wind-assisted long ball caused confusion at the back.

As Lindegaard ran around Jones to collect the ball, the defender panicked and saw it ricochet off his hip and into the unguarded net.