Newcastle news: ‘I am struggling to see how they don’t get a top five spot’

Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup triumph could be the turning point that helps them secure Champions League football this season – that is the view of former Chelsea and Everton winger Pat Nevin, after the Magpies’ 4-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday.

Newcastle have won all three Premier League games since their Wembley victory over Liverpool and now sit fourth in the table with a game in hand on many of the teams around them.

Impressively, their win also came without boss Eddie Howe in the dugout after the Newcastle manager was taken to hospital late on Friday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Nevin said: “I give it more than a solid win. I think I saw something different in Newcastle United.

“I see them quite a lot, but there has been a step up since they won the trophy. Every player seems to have improved that bit more.

“There is something about that inner belief. Beforehand they thought they could win something, now they know they can. I could pick out any player but Dan Burn looked like a colossus in the game, it was extraordinary.

“They obviously did it for the gaffer – get well soon, Eddie – but just looking at the team and how they have grown now, I am struggling to see how they don’t get a top-five spot now and I wouldn’t have said that before the cup final.”

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