Antonio Conte has claimed that Arsenal and Man City are the only two teams who can fight for the title this season - even if Newcastle United are flying in third place.
Although league leaders Arsenal are nine points clear of Newcastle in the table, the Magpies are only a point behind champions City in second at the halfway point of the campaign after playing a game more than their rivals. In contrast, at this stage of last season, Newcastle were second from bottom in the Premier League.
While such a turnaround may have been unthinkable a year ago, when Newcastle were fighting to stay in the top-flight, Howe said just last month that 'we can do anything'. Rather than play down talk of Newcastle mounting a title challenge, Howe has encouraged supporters to 'believe they can do anything'.
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Pep Guardiola, Brendan Rodgers and Mikel Arteta have all referred to Newcastle as a contender in recent weeks, but Conte has predicted a two-horse race after watching bitter rivals Arsenal defeat his Spurs side 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
"Arsenal are a really strong team and showed they deserve to stay at the top of the league," the Spurs boss told reporters. "They deserve to be title contenders. In my opinion, Arsenal and City are the only two teams that can fight for the Premier League this season."
Conte's comments were made just a day after Manchester United were widely tipped to mount a title challenge in the second half of the season after beating City at the weekend - even though the Red Devils are now still below Newcastle in the table with a game in hand. Howe was asked about that after his side defeated Fulham on Sunday, but the smiling Newcastle boss gave a typically measured response as the Magpies continue to block out the outside noise.
"I have not seen anything other than what we have done," he told Match of the Day after Newcastle's 1-0 victory. "We are just pleased to win."
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