Brentford manager Thomas Frank makes big claim about Newcastle United ahead of Saturday's meeting

Newcastle United travel to the G-Tech Community Stadium on Saturday to take on a Brentford side who are yet to be defeated on home soil.

It's another huge test for the Magpies after coming through Wednesday night's clash with Liverpool having won the fans back on their side after a couple of terrible performances before hand.

The way Newcastle played on Wednesday night was far more like the style of play we've come to associate with Eddie Howe over his three-year tenure and was extremely reminiscent of the high-tempo pressing game that made us so good to watch in the season in which we qualified for the Champions League.

It proved that the lads are still capable of playing that way, and now it's just a case of doing it consistently.

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Thomas Frank sees Newcastle as their biggest test at home this season

Brentford manager Thomas Frank is under no illusions that Saturday is going to be a huge test for his side, indeed, he's labelled it as their biggest test of the season so far when speaking to the media.

“This season, I think they are back to the high level that they were at two years ago.

“I don’t think they’ve been rewarded enough with the points and results.

“They were brilliant at home to Arsenal, they were brilliant on Wednesday night at home to Liverpool, they were very good away to Chelsea – they were unlucky not to get something out of that game – at home to West Ham, they absolutely dominated them.

“So I think it’s an Eddie Howe team that is at its best and will be a big test for us; this will be the biggest test that we have faced at home so far this season.”

It feels like anything can happen this season

A lot has been made of the performances this season as they have been wildly inconsistent, and while we do agree with Thomas Frank that at times the points haven't reflected the endeavour we've put in, there have also been times we've picked up points that our performances didn't deserve.

On balance, we're probably right where we deserve to be right now, but the big thing is, we have proven several times that we have what it takes to absolutely blow teams away.

I can't remember the Premier League table being this tightly compacted going into Christmas. A single point can shoot you up the table right now, goal difference is a huge thing already. It's exciting.

If Newcastle can start to put some results together, those Champions League places are still very much in play.