Newcastle United could be confirmed a Champions League team as soon as Saturday if Liverpool lose to Aston Villa at the weekend. The Toon's brilliant 4-1 defeat of Brighton in front of a deafening St. James' Park has sent Eddie Howe's team four points clear of Liverpool with each club having two games left.
A Deniz Undav own goal, and a Dan Burn header was bookended a goal by Undav at the correct end, making the score 2-1 to Newcastle after 51 minutes. A Nervy 35 minutes was punctuated by late breakaway goals by Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes which had Newcastle fans singing about away trips to Italy.
"They didn't make us anxious, they knew what the players needed in that moment" admitted Howe, reflecting on that period during which the game rested on a knife edge.
"We weren't in total control of that half. We got a few details wrong. We had to keep calm because we knew there would be counter attack moments for us."
