Newcastle United could need just a couple more wins to secure a place in the Europa Conference League and their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League are also healthy after the 5-1 win over Sheffield United.
After the rout at St James' Park, the Magpies are four points ahead of eighth placed West Ham and have a game in hand over the Hammers. Chelsea are five points behind Newcastle in ninth but have played a game less but neither of the London clubs can afford another slip up.
Quite simply if Chelsea fail at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night and Newcastle beat Burnley the Blues will have a mountain to climb. Interestingly, Chelsea face West Ham at Stamford Bridge in their next Premier League game but either way if Newcastle beat the Clarets then see of Brighton & Hove Albion they will be on the cusp of Europe.
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And they'd also be in for a bumper pay day too despite missing out on the top four in the Premier League and a Champions League place. For finishing in the seventh placed slot they currently occupy could be worth around £153million and if they can leapfrog Manchester United it will earn the Magpies a cool £156million.
Throw in the £40million a season deal with Adidas that starts in a matter of weeks, then Newcastle's FFP situation is looking much rosier. True, the Magpies will still have to cut their cloth accordingly because of FFP and PSR rules, but they are at least moving into a position in which they can recruit again.
For now focus is firmly on the pitch and while eyes will be on both West Ham and Chelsea in the next week or so, the situation is in Newcastle's own hands if they can continue to pick up wins. The hope from fans will be they can tie up a place in Europe with games at Turf Moor then on home soil against Brighton rather than a nervy finish at Man United then Brentford.
Howe's attitude after the game was simple, and despite a 5-1 win it would be back to the training ground on Monday with plenty of room for improvement. He said: "I think we've got room to improve just in terms of getting numbers back that can help us and these players that again have had to go week in, week out – and again today, a very quick turn-around of games, we couldn't really rotate the team more than we did, so it's been a big burden on those lads.
"They've done incredibly well. I think there was a big of fatigue in that first-half performance, that wasn't like us, but second half when we had a much better feel about us, you saw the attacking quality that we do possess and as you say with other players to come back, I thin it's exciting."
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