Richard Keys thinks Newcastle are capable of finishing in the top ten of the Premier League this season.
In his blog, he praised Eddie Howe, who has overseen a run of form which means that Newcastle have not lost a league match in 2022.
There was also credit for Joelinton, who won the club’s player of the month award for February, and Dan Burn, who has stabilised the backline.
“Top marks for Eddie Howe as well. What a run Newcastle are on. They’re safe. There’s no way they’re getting back into trouble,” he wrote.
“They might even finish top half. Why not? They’re playing well enough. And it’s been built on simplicity – with the solid citizens I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.
“Yes – Joelinton has been enormous – but so has Dan Burn. They’ll need a whole lot better than either of those two guys if they want to achieve their dreams – but right now it’s great to see the likes of Burn getting a good press.”
Newcastle are currently 14th after their run of good form continued with a 2-1 win over Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
They are five points back from Crystal Palace, who sit tenth, but have two games in hand on Patrick Vieira’s side.
The ambition for Newcastle by the end of the season has to be to push into that middle cluster of clubs including Palace, Leicester, Aston Villa and Brighton, and pull away from that relegation dogfight as definitively as possible.
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