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Dwight Gayle scored his second hat-trick of the season for Newcastle United

Newcastle returned to the top of the Championship table as Dwight Gayle's hat-trick inspired a comfortable home win over against Birmingham City.

Striker Gayle headed in unmarked from a Mo Diame cross, and then finished a low cross for his second in the first half.

Fellow forward Yoan Gouffran thumped in Newcastle's third following a set-piece early in the second-half.

Gayle's 16th of the season from Jonjo Shelvey's pass capped victory over the Blues, who drop out of the top six.

After three games without a win, Newcastle fans might have feared an end-of-year wobble, but any such concerns evaporated as Rafael Benitez's side imposed their dominance.

Gary Rowett's side, who had climbed to fifth, failed to cope with the free-scoring hosts as their miserable run on Tyneside - four straight losses - was extended.

Shelvey and Matt Ritchie had the quality deliveries to feed the lively Gayle, and Blues goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak had plenty of work to do before his goal was eventually breached.

The visitors were lacklustre going forward as Newcastle climbed one point above Brighton, winners against Leeds on Friday.

Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez told BBC Newcastle:

"I think the first half we played really well and had a lot of chances, in the second-half we expected them to push but we created more chances and scored the goals.

"We played attacking football with some pace and good situations that we practiced, the players were enjoying it.

"We talked about the Blackburn game and not making the same mistakes in waiting 45 minutes to create some chances. We concentrated and did what we had to do."

Birmingham City boss Gary Rowett told BBC WM:

"Newcastle are probably the best team I've seen in the Championship, thinking back to some of the teams I've seen promoted from this division and they certainly give you more problems and test you in more way than they do.

"I said to players we have to be aggressive, we have to get close and really tough to play in our half and we'll defend and break - we had opportunities to do that but we didn't play enough balls or play with enough quality when we did win the ball. We were too passive at times.

"I'm very disappointed with the way we made some of the chances far too easy to create."