He signed a new deal with the club in January 2009 to keep him contracted until 2012. He scored a penalty to mark his 50th goal for Newcastle on 1 February 2009 against local rivals Sunderland to make the final score 1–1. He scored his first ever career hat-trick in Newcastle's first home match in the Championship against Reading on 15 August. The first two goals were diving headers, and he completed his hat-trick with a penalty, which he placed in the bottom left corner, sending the keeper the wrong way. He scored in the next game in a 1–0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday taking his tally to four goals in three games, equalling his total for the previous season. Following these early season performances he was named the Championship player of the month for August. He got injured in Newcastle's 4–3 win over Huddersfield Town in the League Cup. The injury kept him out for three months but on his return he scored against Coventry with a left footed strike from the edge of the box. He followed this up by scoring the second in Newcastle's 2–0 home win over Middlesbrough and their 2–2 away draw with Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day taking his tally to an impressive 8 goals from 9 starts. Ameobi was subsequently sidelined with a hamstring injury but made the bench against Nottingham Forest on 29 March 2010. Ameobi appeared early in the second half as a substitute, and soon made his presence felt, firing in an angled left-footed shot off the post to give United the lead in a 2–0 victory. On 3 April 2010, Ameobi scored the decisive goal in a 3–2 victory at Peterborough United. On 22 September 2010 Ameobi scored two goals in a surprise victory away at Chelsea in the League Cup, including the winner in the 90th minute. On 16 October 2010, Ameobi came off the bench to score Newcastle's first in a 2–2 draw against Wigan Athletic. After his good performance against Wigan, he started the next game against West Ham United alongside Andy Carroll putting in a good performance as The Magpies came from 1–0 down to win 2–1. He scored twice in Newcastle's next league game on 31 October 2010 as Newcastle crushed local rivals Sunderland 5–1 at St. James' Park. On 2 January 2011, he scored the winner in a 1–0 win at Wigan Athletic.