Nathan Collins helped himself to a goal as Keith Andrews' Brentford maintained their Premier League push for the European places with a 4-2 victory at Everton which saw striker Igor Thiago bag a hat-trick.
Brazilian Thiago took his tally to 14 for the season with his first goals since the end of November. Only Manchester City's Erling Haaland has scored more in the Premier League.
The result fired Brentford to within four points of the top four as former Republic of Ireland midfielder and assistant Andrews continues to confound his critics. The west Londoners' manager equalled the biggest win of his short stint in charge - against Bournemouth last weekend - as they put four past an Everton side which had four clean sheets in their last six games.
Ireland defender Collins headed home the other as the Bees scored their first from a corner in the league at the 96th attempt, and Beto's 66th-minute response and Thierno Barry's goal in added time barely papered over the cracks for Everton.
Bruno Guimaraes was Newcastle's hero as they edged past Crystal Palace to claim a second successive victory.
The Brazilian put the Magpies in front with a 71st-minute header, his seventh goal of the season, and then sent in the corner from which defender Malick Thiaw stabbed home the second in a 2-0 win which came courtesy of a first clean sheet in 13 attempts.
Until that point, Palace had given as good as they got despite the Magpies having two first-half goals ruled out for offside, although they were unable to make keeper Nick Pope work often enough to reap the rewards of their good play, which £35m (€40.2m) debutant Brennan Johnson played his part in.
However, Eddie Howe's men emerged from the first of nine games in 28 days this month with the win they craved.
Tottenham Hotspur started 2026 by dropping more points at home and were booed off after Sunderland struck in the 80th minute through Brian Brobbey to rescue a 1-1 draw.
Spurs claimed only four Premier League home wins during the last calendar year but were on course for three points when Ben Davies scored a rare goal in the 30th minute.
It was a timely boost for Thomas Frank amid a difficult winter period where a lack of style and attacking flair has led to criticism from a disgruntled fanbase.
With Tottenham one up midway through the second half, Frank's decision to introduce midfielders Joao Palhinha and Lucas Bergvall in an attempt to seal the win backfired as it invited more pressure from a spirited Sunderland outfit.
Regis Le Bris watched his surprise-package side deservedly equalise with 10 minutes left in north London when Brobbey lashed home to make it just one defeat in eight matches.
