Daniel Wales and Joe Buck discuss whether Newcastle will qualify for the Champions League.
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00:00Now, as well, we should probably mention the fact that
00:03because of Arsenal's win in the Champions League
00:06on Tuesday evening against Real Madrid,
00:09fifth place is now confirmed to be a Champions League spot
00:12for next season.
00:14I mean, we've had this suspicion for quite a long time now
00:17because of the way English clubs were progressing
00:18in European competition this year.
00:20But it is now confirmed, which, I mean,
00:22it does make Newcastle's life an awful lot easier
00:25in terms of Champions League qualification this season.
00:26They are currently sat fifth, joint level with fourth place Chelsea.
00:30Only on goal difference are they behind them.
00:33So it's looking good for Newcastle at the moment.
00:36You know, they've still got a game in hand over the teams around them too.
00:40And if they win that, they'll leapfrog Chelsea.
00:42They'll also go a point behind third place Nottingham Forest.
00:44Yes, they've got some tricky games to come after that, Newcastle,
00:46but they've got some winnable games to come before the harder ones.
00:50I mean, obviously, you look at Manchester United.
00:52We'll come on to that in a bit more detail later.
00:54But you've got Crystal Palace.
00:57Obviously, Aston Villa's tricky.
00:58Then you've got Ipswich.
00:59So lots of winnable games.
01:01And you'd have to fancy them to come at least fifth,
01:04I think, of the way things are going at the moment.
01:07Yeah, definitely.
01:07I think so.
01:08You know, a few weeks ago, there was almost everyone
01:10from sort of 11th or 10th that thought they could finish in the top five.
01:14I think that's probably now down to maybe sort of four or five clubs.
01:18I think, obviously, Liverpool and Arsenal are almost guaranteed.
01:20Then you've got anyone from Forest, Newcastle, Man City, Chelsea,
01:24even Aston Villa, who are in a decent run of form.
01:26So I think they've just got to keep picking up wins when they can,
01:29as they've been doing the last couple of weeks,
01:30picking up, especially at home, trying to, you know,
01:33win all their home games.
01:34That's a solid foundation.
01:36And then it's just you've got to look at the sort of split the season
01:40and the rest of the season two little bits.
01:42You've got the week coming up with Man U, Palace and Villa.
01:45They're three big games.
01:46You know, if they can get maybe six points, seven points from that,
01:48that's a tremendous result.
01:50And then, obviously, Ipswich and Siafta.
01:52But then they've got Brighton, Chelsea and Arsenal to come
01:54in the beginning of May, which is another sort of really tough period.
01:58So, yeah, they just have to keep winning games.
01:59And I think, guaranteeing, you know, having that fifth place
02:03is a real big advantage and something that will give them a big boost
02:06because we all saw last year, we all went into that FA Cup final,
02:09assuming Newcastle will be playing European football
02:12and that didn't happen.
02:14But, yeah, Champions League is one they'll be aiming for.
02:16Now, I do think they will get it.
02:18I think that you've got a lot of teams there
02:20who aren't in the best of form.
02:23You know, Man City losing Haaland, for example.
02:25Chelsea have been a bit erratic this season.
02:27Notting Forest have lost a couple.
02:28And, of course, Newcastle, you know,
02:29as much as they've won four in a row now,
02:31they've shown the times they're not in the best of form.
02:33But I think it is theirs to grasp.
02:36And if they can get the win on Sunday
02:38and make the most of their game in hand,
02:40then they'll be in a really good position to sort of attack that
02:42because teams won't want to be chasing Newcastle,
02:44especially with their home games to come,
02:45they won't want to have to rely on Newcastle slipping up.
02:49Performances probably do have to get better
02:50in the next week to win those games.
02:52I think they've been certainly fortunate on Monday night.
02:55I'd say they didn't play very well,
02:56but they didn't have to against a really, really bad Leicester team.
02:58And against Brentford, they were decent.
03:01But they'll have to be better,
03:02probably against Palace next week.
03:04I think Manchester United's a bit of a different one on Sunday.
03:05I think they will get a reaction and a better performance
03:08because it's always a really good atmosphere there.
03:11But yeah, they'll have to improve.
03:12But I do think fifth place is theirs to lose now.
03:14A bit of a rise in terms of the atmosphere from that game
03:16because, well, it's Manchester United.
03:18Regardless of how poor they've been this season,
03:20Newcastle will go into that game.
03:21And I think the players will put in a reaction as well,
03:24even though it's funny to say that they're going to have a reaction
03:27even off the back of a win.
03:29But that's just the way it is.
03:31But yeah, games to come, as you say,
03:33their Palace will be tricky
03:34because they're in a good reign of form at the moment as well.
03:37But you've also got to hope that perhaps
03:39they'll be looking towards their Epic Cup semi-final as well
03:42and perhaps might have one eye on that
03:43and their priorities might be a little bit shifted
03:45by the time that that game comes around.
03:47So you can look at that as perhaps a factor in Newcastle's favour.
03:51And then obviously, as you say there,
03:52Villa will be a tricky one.
03:53I think if you look at the away games,
03:55they're sort of games where as long as long,
03:59now that this is providing Newcastle win their home games,
04:02if they can then win the home games,
04:04and then go into the away games and just not lose them,
04:08you're pretty much there, to be honest.
04:10You don't necessarily have to win the away games.
04:13If you win all your home games and draw all your away games,
04:17they will get into the top five quite comfortably
04:19because of the position they're currently in anyway.
04:22So I think it's very much in their hands.
04:25I mean, obviously, it'd be great to win some of those away games as well.
04:27But as long as they do the business at St James' Park,
04:31certainly they just need to go into the away games and not lose.
04:33Because then, of course, when they're playing the teams around them,
04:35like Brighton and Villa,
04:37things stay the same as well,
04:39because you're restricting them, of course, as well.
04:41So it's, as I say, it's in their hands.