Alexander Isak hammers hat-trick as Newcastle thrash Ipswich

Alexander Isak struck a brilliant hat-trick as Newcastle United heaped more misery on Ipswich Town with a 4-0 victory at Portman Road on Saturday.

Arsenal remain in third after beating Crystal Palace 5-1 at Selhurst Park, while Nottingham Forest inflicted a first home defeat of the season on Brentford with a 2-0 win.

Newcastle's victory at Ipswich saw Eddie Howe’s side notch their first Premier League win in five games as they moved up to seventh in the table, just a point behind Manchester City, who lost 2-1 at Aston Villa, after 17 games.

Defeat for Kiernan McKenna’s Ipswich means they are stuck in the relegation zone on 12 points, two adrift of Leicester, who have a game in hand.

Isak opened the scoring for Newcastle after just 26 seconds as he fired home a loose ball that had bounced off Ipswich defender Sam Morsy's heel from a Jacob Murphy cross from the right wing.

Murphy then put the visitors two up just after the half-hour, blasting in off the underside of the crossbar after good work from Anthony Gordon.

Isak made it three in first-half stoppage time after being teed up by Bruno Guimaraes before grabbing his hat-trick nine minutes into the second half.

Dan Burn had a fifth goal for Newcastle disallowed by VAR for offside late in the game.

Isak told Premier League Productions after the game: "We've been playing so much better lately, and it has been showing in the results. It's been a long time coming for Newcastle, my first one [hat-trick] here. I'm buzzing.

"Just scoring goals will give confidence, and help me and the team. It doesn't matter if it's one, two or three.”

Newcastle boss Howe said to BBC Match of the Day: “Absolutely delighted with the players and what they've given this week, it's been a really big week for us. Getting through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup was one of our big aims and our league form needed to improve so brilliant to get back-to-back wins.

“We're just constantly trying to tweak things and trying to improve, there are a number of little things to upturn our form. Our creative play has been back to what it has always been - free scoring and look like we can create at any time.”

Nottingham Forest ended Brentford’s unbeaten Premier League home record with a 2-0 win.

It was a third straight victory for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side as they kept up their bid for Champions League football. They briefly moved to third in the table before Arsenal's 5-1 mauling of Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in Saturday's late kick-off saw them slip back into fourth spot.

Two goals from Gabriel Jesus either side of an Ismaila Sarr's 11th-minute equaliser set Mikael Arteta's side on course for victory. Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice then rounded off an impressive win.

At at the Gtech Community Stadium, Forest took the lead on 38 minutes after surviving some early pressure from the hosts when full-back Ola Aina struck from a low Nico Williams cross.

Anthony Elanga made it 2-0 six minutes after half-time when he pounced on a Keane Lewis-Potter error before beating Palace keeper Mark Flekken.

Forest manager Espirito Santo said after the match: “It was a good game, a tough game. We knew how hard it was going to be.

“We had to change [our approach] and the boys did well. It was about holding the result. Brentford caused us problems in the second half but we dealt with it, which shows the character and resilience in the team.

“We’re improving, becoming more mature in terms of control. It’s not about the table. It’s about improving, realising that there is still a long way to go and that we’ve achieved nothing yet.”

Brentford manager Thomas Frank said to PLP: “I thought we performed well, if I’m honest. I thought we were on top in a lot of moments, but we had more dangerous moments without having clear-cut chances. Defensively, it was probably our best performance of the season.

“Of course we’ve conceded two goals. That’s different. The second goal is obviously a mistake. The first one we can do better, too, no doubt about that.

“Maybe we didn’t have enough on the bench because of injuries, but I’m quite pleased with the performance. It happens – that’s football.”

At the London Stadium, Mohammed Kudus scored his third Premier League goal of the season to help West Ham rescue a point against Brighton.

The Seagulls took the lead on 51 minutes when Dutch midfielder Mats Wieffer scored his first goal for the club after stabbing the ball home after Hammers keeper Lukasz Fabianski attempted to clear a Pervis Estupinian cross into the area.

Kudus levelled things from a rebound in the 58th minute after Bart Verbruggen had blocked a shot from Jarrod Bowen.