TWELVE games to go, and Newcastle United are back in the driving seat when it comes to Champions League qualification.
While confirmation will not be received until much closer to the end of the season, there is every chance England will receive five Champions League spots this term thanks to UEFA’s coefficient. After Sunday’s topsy-turvy win over Nottingham Forest, the Magpies currently sit fifth. So far, so good.
Admittedly, the battle could hardly be fiercer or more closely contested, with just eight points separating third-placed Nottingham Forest from tenth-placed Fulham, and given that they travel to Anfield tomorrow night to face champions-elect Liverpool, there is a good chance Newcastle will be back out of the top five come the weekend.
Even so, after a season that has been characterised by inconsistency, with the highs extremely high and the lows extremely low, Eddie Howe and his players head into the final three months of the campaign pretty much where they would want to be in terms of targeting a Champions League return. If not quite theirs to lose just yet, a top-five finish feels eminently attainable.
“I think there's a host of teams that will have that feeling,” said Howe, when asked whether Newcastle were now on track for a return to European football’s top table. “We're in there fighting, and I back us if we're fighting and showing our best qualities, as we did in the first half (against Nottingham Forest).
“We’ll hopefully be there towards the end fighting and competing for that place, but nothing is guaranteed. It's such a competitive league this year and you can see that from our recent home games.”
Prior to beating Forest, Newcastle had suffered back-to-back home league defeats against Bournemouth and Fulham.
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Despite leading 4-1 at half-time, they were in danger of throwing Sunday’s win away for most of the second half as Forest poured forward and Newcastle’s players became increasingly edgy and nervous, ceding possession cheaply as they became penned back into their own half.
Ultimately, they scrambled over the line, so while Howe was hardly doing cartwheels over his side’s second-half performance, he was willing to give his players a pass. After suffering a couple of setbacks, they just needed to win. In the future, though, their game-management will have to improve once they get themselves in front.
“You have to give context all the time,” said Howe. “Especially myself, in my position, because it’s very easy to be reactive and emotional and focus on negative things. I have to stay very middle ground and try to look at it glass half-full.
“We're in a good position, the players have responded really well to a difficult defeat again and now we go to Anfield, so that's going to be hard enough without any other distractions.
“I can't be angry all the time, can I? I was angry last week (after the Manchester City defeat), but no, we've won the game. I'd like to think I'm very selective when I use my emotion. This was about recognising where we are in the season.
“We've had some difficult games at home in recent weeks, so the fact we were able to score four goals and looked like a really good attacking side gives us a lot of hope.
“We know we need to defend better – we've been in that position for a while mixed in with some good defensive performances as well. But it's all about growth, it's all about improvement, and this was a great game to look at to begin those things.”
It was also a landmark match for Alexander Isak, with the Swedish striker hitting the 50-goal mark in the Premier League as he made it past 20 goals in all competitions this season.
“If you’ve got that striker in your team, you've always got hope,” said Howe. “You've always got an ability to win games. Even if you do go behind like we did, you know you've got Alex, you've got other potential match-winners in your team. It's a massive thing.
“I thought he played really well in that first half. We got him the ball a lot in the attacking areas. He drifted wide a lot as well, it was great to see, and then in the second half, he suffered because the team suffered and we couldn't get him the ball as much as we had.”
