Clint Dempsey scored a hat-trick as Fulham routed Newcastle 5-2 at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
The first half was dominated by Newcastle, yet they entered the half time break with just a Danny Guthrie wonder strike to show for their efforts.
The second half could not have been more different to the first as Fulham dominated from start to finish, with goals from Danny Murphy and Bobby Zamora sandwiching two from Clint Dempsey to put the hosts in complete control.
Hatem Ben Arfa replied late on for the visitors before Dempsey grabbed the match ball with a late strike to complete hat-trick.
Blustery conditions at Craven Cottage made for a scrappy start to the game, with neither side able to get their big forward men into the game via long balls.
With much of the game being played on the ground, Ben Arfa was providing the only real threat and it was his low effort which brought the first save of the game from David Stockdale.
With midfield maestro Murphy unable to get on the ball, the visitors began to dominate the encounter and almost took the lead on the half hour mark when Fabricio Coloccini had his header well saved by Stockdale.
The Fulham goalkeeper was powerless to stop Newcastle going ahead two minutes before the break though, with Guthrie unleashing a piledriver with his left foot, arrowing into the top corner past the despairing dive of Stockdale.
Davide Santon was perhaps fortunate to escape with just a yellow card after hauling down Andy Johnson just before the interval, but was not as lucky after the break when he felled Damian Duff.
Contact looked to be outside the area, but referee Lee Mason pointed to the spot and Murphy converted his penalty to put Fulham on level terms.
By the hour mark the hosts had turned the game on its head. Great work from Johnson set Zamora away, the forward stepped inside leaving Coloccini for dead before firing at goal.
Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul did well to parry but the rebound found Dempsey who bundled the ball over the line with his thigh, the American's 50th goal for the Cottagers.
More great work from Johnson and Zamora led to Dempsey netting his second on 65 minutes, before Krul brought down Johnson in the area to allow Zamora to score Fulham's fourth from the spot.
Ben Arfa did his best to restore some pride for his side with an impressive low strike five minutes from time to make it 4-2.
But there was no stopping the home side though as Dempsey scored his first hat-trick in Premier League football, slotting neatly past Krul on the back of a superb through ball from Zamora.
The win moves Fulham onto 26 points for the season, while Newcastle stay level on points with Arsenal on 36.