TICKING ALL THE FOXES
High-flying Newcastle bring back memories of Leicester’s miracle march to glory in 2016, but no one is getting carried away
CALLUM WILSON bounced into the Newcastle dressing room and announced: “We’re four points off the top.”
The reaction? “Everyone just ignored him,” midfielder Sean Longstaff revealed, making it clear that Toon are not getting carried away by their fruitful autumn.
Newcastle players and fans are gutted the World Cup has brought to an end a sequence of eyecatching Premier League results but not even the most optimistic Geordie will allow himself to talk of Champions League qualification or, dare we say it, the title.
This campaign increasingly has the feel of a Leicester season, the 2015-16 campaign which saw the East Midlands side take advantage of unexpected frailities among the Big Four clubs to win the title under Claudio Ranieri.
Liverpool are off the pace, Chelsea look gone, and Spurs and Manchester United are struggling to convince their own fans they have what it takes.
Yes, Arsenal are still going great guns at the top but it would be no surprise to see their results dip once the season resumes and Manchester City showed their vulnerability when losing at home
to Brentford on Saturday. But all on Tyneside are keeping their feet on Geordie ground, remembering that they had not won a single Premier League game by this stage of last season.
Wilson’s bravado talk carried less weight later in the day when Arsenal’s defeat of Wolves lengthened the gap between them and Newcastle to seven points, but to be third at this stage of the season is some achievement.
Finishing in the top four would be a major triumph and they have the one-gamea-week freshness and the team ethic to do it.
A fine 67th-minute goal from Joe Willock (right) gave them a fifth win in a row and Toon are unbeaten in 11. What’s more, they have kept five clean sheets in seven games, with two goals conceded in the last 11 hours of play.
Local lad Longstaff is among the allaction heroes, improved by Eddie Howe’s coaching, and an ultimate self-sacrificing team player. “It is the manager making us better people and us not wanting to let each other down. That is a big thing,” said Longstaff.
“You see at the end one person gets into a scuffle (left) and everyone is coming in. We are such a close bunch. It is an ‘everyone together’ mentality.
“We are gaining people’s respect and people are getting more and more wary. That comes from our good play, being able to pin teams back, lock teams out with our press. It is instilled by the coaching staff who get us to play on the front foot. It is really exciting and the message is the same every day. It is great to be part of. “We have a break to recover and we’ll come back with the same mentality. We have put ourselves in a really strong position. We need to make sure we back that up. There is no point in coming this far to chuck it away. It has been a great start and the place is buzzing.
“We never feared anyone. Now we have confidence and self-belief.
“When the city is pulling together we can do great things.”
There are heroes like Kieran Trippier (left) all over the Newcastle team right now but Longstaff singled out
Brazil World Cup midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
He added: “Bruno is the best of the lot. When you have the best player next to you it is a lot easier.
“We know we can compete with anyone if we are at it. We are more on the front foot.
“We get after teams and if they are good enough to play through us they are good enough. It is a good challenge.”