On Wednesday, Newcastle take on Barcelona in the Nou Camp, with a place in the Champions League quarter-finals hanging in the balance after this week’s first leg finished 1-1 on Tyneside. Next Sunday, Sunderland are the visitors at St James’ Park, with the Magpies desperate for revenge after losing December’s derby at the Stadium of Light.
In the space of five days, Eddie Howe and his players will tackle arguably their two biggest games of the season. First though, they head to Chelsea.
Ordinarily, a trip to Stamford Bridge would be one of the standout games on Newcastle’s fixture list, and there is plenty at stake this teatime, with Chelsea sitting fifth, in what is likely to be the final Champions League place, and Newcastle 12th, desperately needing a win to close the four-point gap currently separating them from the top eight. It’s a big game in west London. But it’s only the third-biggest game of the week, something Howe has been mindful of as he has prepared his side for their Saturday assignment.
“I think there’s mental challenges for this game that we’re going to have to try and get right,” said the Newcastle boss. “It could be a huge game for us. Let’s not forget, we won our last game in the Premier League, and we’re trying to build some consistency at last in the league, which we haven't done well enough throughout the season.
“It’s not lost on me how important the Premier League is, and I'll impose that onto the players today. I did it yesterday.
“I think the players know how big it is, but you can’t change human nature. I think we have to accept that there’s not just Barcelona, but also Sunderland ahead on the horizon. The players will be aware of that, but I’ll be telling them that we have to perform in this game.”
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Newcastle have relished their return to the Champions League this season, but as was the case two years ago, playing in Europe’s premier competition has undoubtedly had a negative impact on domestic form.
The financial and footballing positives of being in the Champions League make it much easier to stomach a difficult season in the Premier League, but would the same be true if Newcastle were competing in the Europa League or Conference League next term?
It can be argued that, as was the case last season, missing out on Europe entirely makes it much easier to reset in the Premier League, but Howe begs to differ. The Newcastle boss regards a Europa League or Conference League place as a prize worth winning, with it looking increasingly likely that a top-eight finish will be good enough to secure European football of some description for next season.
“That’s something we want,” said Howe. “That's something we really want, especially after our experiences in the two Champions League seasons we've had. We've loved the competition.
“European football of any stature — I said the same last year — is something that we're working towards. All we can do now, and between now and the end of the season, is give our best in every Premier League game to try and get the results we need. We won't stop, we won't give up on that until the very end. That’s all we can do.”
The immediate challenge is to arrest a dreadful run at Stamford Bridge that stretches through the whole of the Premier League era. Newcastle have won just one of their last 30 top-flight league games at Chelsea – May 2012’s 2-0 victory that came courtesy of two Papiss Cisse screamers – with Howe still to record a win at Stamford Bridge in charge of the Magpies. Has that record been worrying him?
To be honest, it’s not played on my mind because I didn't know it was that bad,” he said. “So, sorry about that! That actually surprises me that it’s that bad. I mean, I know there's a few grounds that our record's been indifferent at – that’s something we'll be looking to put right. I don't see any reason why that [such a bad record at Chelsea] should be the case.”