Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert hailed Christian Benteke as "world class", after the forward fired a hat-trick in a 6-1 thrashing of Sunderland in the English Premier League.
Benteke was unstoppable in the second half, scoring three goals in just 17 minutes as Villa ran away with the game in the final 45 minutes.
Ron Vlaar, Andreas Weimann and Gabriel Agbonlahor also got in on the scoring with Danny Rose netting the consolation goal for Paolo Di Canio's side, who had Stephane Sessegnon sent off 20 minutes from time.
"He's been absolutely world class," Lambert told Sky Sports. "For somebody who has just come to this country, he's been absolutely brilliant.
"A great compliment for him is that I've always said he is a real, humble guy and if he keeps that, and keeps his feet on the ground, and keeps working hard, he can be anything.
"I thought for his goal from the corner he jumped the height of the crossbar, which was outstanding!"
With the three points, Villa joined Sunderland on 37 points, with Newcastle dropping down a place to 17th, albeit only on goal difference following their 6-0 loss to Liverpool at the weekend.
"I think first and foremost we had to try and win the game, which we did do, and the goal difference has swung again," he said.
"We were a few behind before tonight, but to get the goals in the way we did has given us great impetus to go to Norwich on Saturday, and try and win another game."
Sunderland manager Di Canio hopes the "humiliation" can galvanize his team into surviving relegation, with the Black Cats, along with Newcastle and Villa, only five points ahead of third from bottom Wigan, who have a game in hand.
"It's a very bad defeat and our performance I'm not very happy about, obviously, but probably we thought the main job was done," Di Canio said.
"If the team has performed in this way, the first person responsible is the manager, and also the players, but the signals we probably didn't read in the week.
"Maybe this is a medicine in some way that can let us understand that we have to play with desire, commitment, otherwise we are going to have difficulty.
"This humiliation can help the players, the manager, the staff. We need a minimum of another three points. We can do it, but it was unacceptable the performance we made tonight.
"There was one team that played like it was the last chance of their life, which was Villa, and a team that was probably a little full in the stomach because of the last two wins in a row."
Di Canio also said the club would appeal the red card given to Sessegnon, who was sent off for a late challenge on Yacouba Sylla. If Sunderland fail with their appeal, then the playmaker will miss the final three matches of the season.
"We saw the clip and there is not a bad challenge," Di Canio added. "In my opinion it wasn't a red card.
"I think once the referee has seen the clip he's going to realise the dynamic of the challenge can put him in difficulty.
"In reality, when you see the clip there isn't any intention to damage the opponent. The leg was not raised. We're going to appeal, of course."
