Why Newcastle qualifying for the Champions League would be huge achievement

Local TV Sport

Daniel Wales and Joe Buck discuss how significant Newcastle United qualifying for the Champions League would be.

Transcript

00:00Newcastle United were certainly handed a big favour by Manchester City on Tuesday evening

00:06as Pep Guardiola's side defeated Aston Villa by two goals to one at the Etihad in the Premier League.

00:12The result of this is that if Newcastle are now to go and beat Ipswich Town in the Premier League

00:17on Saturday afternoon at St James' Park, they would restore a five-point gap between themselves and Aston Villa.

00:23Many Newcastle fans are of the mind that because of Manchester City's know-how and experience

00:28of qualifying for the Champions League, despite what has been a rocky season for Manchester City,

00:32they were probably always going to qualify for the top five and in doing so get in the Champions League.

00:38And therefore for Newcastle, it's more a case of finishing above two of the other teams involved in the race.

00:43So Chelsea, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest.

00:46Certainly therefore, by having a five-point gap to Aston Villa, which they would achieve by beating Ipswich,

00:52as mentioned, would be really, really beneficial for Newcastle's chances of qualifying for the top five.

00:57It would mean that Aston Villa would probably have to go and win the majority of their remaining games

01:02in the Premier League this season.

01:03Of course, Newcastle still have to play Chelsea too.

01:06And if they won that game, that would certainly be a big boost.

01:08So let's go now to Joe Buck of the Shields Gazette.

01:11Joe, how big of an achievement would it be for Newcastle to qualify for the Champions League,

01:16given their relative squad depth compared to those around them?

01:19And of course, just how important was that win of Manchester City's against Aston Villa on Tuesday evening?

01:27Yeah, absolutely. I think you're right.

01:28The disappointment on Saturday night was probably the manner they got beat.

01:31I think everyone acknowledged it was going to be a tough game,

01:34but the manner of the defeat and the fact that you never really felt like they were going to get anything from the game.

01:40Obviously, they went behind after 30 seconds.

01:41And even when Cher scored, it didn't look like they were going to, you know,

01:44it felt like it was built on sand and the foundations weren't very strong.

01:47Villa were really good. You've got to give them that.

01:49But as you say, you know, Tuesday night, that was sort of forgotten about almost instantly with Man City's late goal.

01:56It was, yeah, it was a weird feeling, sort of wanting Manchester City to score,

02:00but then also not wanting them to score at the same time, not knowing if actually Aston Villa a goal was better.

02:04It was like lots of permutations and no one really knew what the best outcome was.

02:08But I do think that late Man City goal was probably the best outcome for Newcastle.

02:12You can assume Man City, Liverpool and obviously Arsenal will be there.

02:15So they've just got to then finish above two of Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Villa.

02:19And I think they are able to do that.

02:21I think it helps them, the fact they've got Ipswich this weekend.

02:24It's a nice fixture to hopefully open up a five-point gap.

02:28I hope we're not splitting here next week, saying I can't believe Newcastle will miss the opportunity.

02:31But yeah, it's a nice fixture.

02:33Obviously, Forest and Villa and Man City have also got FA Cup,

02:36so their attention will be slightly, you know, distracted this weekend.

02:40And yeah, with Chelsea to come before the end of the season,

02:44that game just looks massive at St. James.

02:46It was always going to be massive, but it looks huge now.

02:48But I think they're in a good position.

02:50They'll be happy with the position.

02:51If you'd said, you know, beginning of this year,

02:53that this is where they'll be with four games to go, five games to go, sorry,

02:56they would have took it without a shadow of a doubt.

02:58So yeah, it's a nice place from the beginning.

03:00Nice that they're going to be setting the pace, hopefully, come this weekend,

03:04rather than, you know, being a team that's chasing it.

03:06We saw a couple of years ago, they sort of stumbled over the line with, you know,

03:09a couple of draws and defeats towards the end of the season.

03:11But hopefully they can get enough points in the bag now and next week against Brighton

03:16and then Chelsea to come.

03:17It doesn't go down to those last two games because Arsenal away

03:20and then Everton at home, sorry, in the last game of the season is going to be

03:23not the ideal opportunity, you know, not ideal games for them to get points.

03:27So yeah, hopefully they can get a win this weekend and set the pace.

03:29As I said, Jason Tindall, Eddie Howe,

03:31and everyone would have took that sort of a couple of months ago.

03:33You've got the start of 11, which has started the last seven games,

03:36Anthony Gordon on the bench, obviously, and then Sven Botman and Lewis Hall.

03:39And that's probably it for like, so there's your 14, you know, the top level.

03:44So, but yeah, it's been a really good job from Howe and Tindall to have gone sort of

03:47three transfer windows without a real first team sign.

03:50And the only one that really made in that time was Lloyd Kelly,

03:53and he's obviously now at Juventus.

03:54So yeah, so we've gone that long and still be competing.

03:57And then not just be competing and hanging on, you know,

03:59as I said before, they're hopefully setting the pace.

04:01It is a remarkable job.

04:03And yeah, like, don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have Villa's options.

04:06You know, when you look at, as I say, the subs the other day,

04:08Newcastle's five subs, three of them were there before the takeover.

04:11One was Gordon, of course, and the other was Matt Target,

04:14who was brought in pretty much, you know, in that first window.

04:18So yeah, it's, your credit's got to go to Howe and Tindall.

04:21But I think, you know, a lot of credit as well has got to go to Jason Tindall.

04:24Over the last week, I know they got beat by Villa,

04:25but to get them wins over Manu and Palace were absolutely huge.

04:28And to do it in style as well, you know, 9-1 on aggregate over them two games,

04:32that was massive.

04:33And that really, sort of, you could see the belief returning to the team,

04:36or if they didn't believe, they certainly do now.

04:38And the fans, I think, are sort of believing now,

04:40especially after them two wins, that they can go on and do it.

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