'I will take it': Eddie Howe faces up to blame for Newcastle United's indifferent Premier League season
Newcastle United have been pretty strong in cup competitions this season and have surprised everybody with their Champions League exploits, but it has come at a cost.
The Premier League should be Newcastle's bread and butter. A high league position gets them back into Europe the following season, and that's where the club needs to be if it wants to realise its goals of bridging that financial gap to the 'Big Six'.
However, this season, league form has suffered while the Magpies marched into another Carabao Cup semi-final and into the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
Newcastle also saw off two Premier League teams in the FA Cup before coming up against Manchester City, who had already thrown them out of the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage.
Eddie Howe has fronted up to the blame for Newcastle's poor league form
For whatever reason, it just hasn't clicked in the Premier League this season and in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's clash with Chelsea, Eddie Howe has shouldered the blame for that.
"I think you can safely say this season that the Premier League has not gone to plan.
"We would have loved to have done a lot better than we have.
"We would love to have been more consistent. There have been some good performances in there.
"Consistency of results has not been there and our away form has not been strong enough.
"We have lost too many games.
"You can label all that at me and I will take it on the chin.
"Our plan is to do better."
Never say never
It's not too late to turn things around, as the teams above us in the league haven't exactly been consistent either, but there is a growing feeling that Newcastle's chances of regaining a European spot, even if it's the Europa Conference League, are slipping away.
A defeat against Chelsea on Saturday would certainly increase the feeling of doom and gloom, but on the flip side, a win at Stamford Bridge would end a dismal run of defeats at that ground and would also give the Toon Army a heaping spoonful of belief ahead of the derby next week.
Let's be honest, under Eddie Howe, Newcastle have performed tighter miracles than this one, so it's not over until it's over.
