Chelsea, with a 4-1 first leg lead, had the opportunity to take it easy on Thursday evening as they coasted into a European final at the expense of Swedish side Djurgarden after making 10 changes for the second leg clash at Stamford Bridge. Nice for some, eh?
Despite almost an entire starting XI switch from Sunday's win over Premier League champions Liverpool, with a host of young stars getting their chance to shine, Enzo Maresca still fielded top talent to the tune of £175m in Malo Gusto, Marc Cucurella, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Benoit Badiashile and Filip Jorgensen. This is a flex that United, at present, cannot match.
[Eddie Howe dodged questions surrounding Chelsea's mammoth spending](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/newcastle-uniteds-edge-after-3378m-31605586), their PSR loopholes and more at [Friday morning's press conferenc](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/eddie-howe-newcastle-united-live-31594647)e, instead choosing to focus on what happens at St James' Park on Sunday. The Newcastle head coach knows Maresca will revert to a similar lineup to the one seen against Liverpool last weekend and therefore wasn't paying too much attention to their midweek, European success.
"I think the game and the tie was pretty much dead with their comfortable lead," Howe told reporters. "We expect them to, without going into too much detail, revert to near their last League Premier League side which was an impressive game against Liverpool.
"They've performed very well of late, with a lot of confidence, their attacking players are back in form so yeah, it should be a good game."
Chelsea have spent £1.7billion in transfer fees in the five-year period up to 2024 and have shown no signs of slowing down in terms of stockpiling top talent. Newcastle, in turn, have been shackled by the Premier League's financial regulations and have failed to strengthen Howe's first-team with exciting assets since 2023.
A return to Champions League football would aid United's cause when it comes to rediscovering their previous spending power and Sunday's showdown with Chelsea will go an awful long way to deciding whether the Magpies achieve their season-long aim. Both clubs are level on 63 points, with Howe's side ahead only on goals scored.
The Newcastle boss was pressed on whether achieving a top five finish would truly unlock the door when it comes to signing elite level players and admits that has been the club's aim - Champions League participation or not - in post-takeover transfer windows.
"I don't know the intricacies of our financial position depending on Champions League qualification. I don't think it changes too much in terms of our targets and who we look to try and sign. "Because we're trying to go for the best players in a very small pool of players to pick from.
"Obviously I think it's where we want to be, that's where we want to play, we want to be in the highest level competitions we can. We want to test ourselves to the absolute maximum and try and recreate those great nights here."