The good news keeps coming for the Carabao Cup champions Newcastle United.
Three points and a clean sheet on the Monday at West Ham, followed by three England call-ups – including a first for Dan Burn later in the week – before finishing it off by ending a 70-year domestic trophy drought at Wembley.
Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier and Jamaal Lascelles were the first to lift the cup after goals from Dan Burn and Alexander Isak on Sunday, and the ramifications for the Toon go beyond just the trophy.
Newcastle will play in Europe no matter where they finish in the Premier League. Victory in the EFL Cup confirmed that Eddie Howe’s Mags will, at the very least, play in the Europa Conference League in the 2025/26 campaign.
Have no doubt that the club won’t just settle for that. The internal goal is to push on and aim to qualify for the Champions League, it now seems that a top five finish will be enough, but at least there is a safety net.
Even if the worst happens and we end the season poorly, we’ll end this season with Europe and a trophy in the cabinet – but it could be even better yet.
Results went our way in the Premier League while we were busy winning at Wembley. Sides around us in the tightly-contested race for European football failed to capitalise on us being out of league action.
Chelsea and Bournemouth both lost, to Arsenal and Brentford respectively, while an ideal result at the Etihad saw Manchester City draw Brighton. Win our game in hand and we go fourth, leapfrogging Man City and Chelsea.
European results last week also mean an English win in any of the quarter-finals, across all European competitions, and the Premier League gets five places in the UEFA Champions League.