We are now at the business end of the Premier League season with just 10 games remaining for Newcastle United to climb up the league and nab one of those European spots.
Newcastle currently sit in 10th spot on the Premier League and it's believed that, thanks to the rejigged Champions League format, that eighth place will be enough to qualify for the Europa Conference League this season.
There are still a lot of variables in play that could affect that, so it goes without saying that the higher we can finish, the better.
As things stand, Newcastle are seven points away from Manchester United in sixth, four behind West Ham in seventh (who we play on Saturday) and just two points behind Brighton in eighth with Wolves one point ahead of us in ninth.
The Premier League have released a ranking of the run in to see who has the most difficult final 10 games and who has the easiest based on the average points of their remaining opponents this season.
The good news for Newcastle fans is that we came out on top with the "easiest" run in of any team in the league with our opponents averaging 33.5 points this season.
Of our direct rivals for European competition you have to scroll down to seventh on the list to find another team in our way and that's Manchester United, who, incidentally, are our only remaining away game against Top 10 opposition.
That seven-point gap to Manchester United may be a bit unrealistic to bridge in just 10 games, so next up would be West Ham or Brighton who both have tricky run ins, especially Brighton who have the hardest run in of all the teams in the league.
After Newcastle were handed the most difficult start to the Premier League season it's nice to see things are a bit easier in the final few games, although there are no easy games in the Premier League as our record against Luton Town this season shows.
It's still a bit of positivity to carry into the remaining games and if we can keep our players fit we should hopefully be able to take full advantage of our "easy" run in and claw up a few places and hopefully bag ourselves a few more European away days next season.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
14 | -9 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
14 | -14 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |