Where Newcastle United stand in Champions League race after Saturday's Premier League results

It has been a mixed day for Newcastle United in terms of other teams' results in the Premier League as the Magpies fight for Champions League qualification.

Newcastle are in action on Sunday afternoon against Manchester United at St James' Park, live on Sky Sports with a 4:30pm kick-off.

In the race for third to fifth in the Premier League, only Newcastle and Chelsea have not played today and while today's results have seen Newcastle drop down to seventh in the table, it's not all bad.

Manchester City's inspired comeback against Crystal Palace may have been a bad result for us today, but could end up being a massive benefit to the Magpies.

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Man City's win over Crystal Palace may still benefit Newcastle

City's 5-2 win after going 2-0 down to Palace has meant that they have kept the pressure right on Newcastle, but it must also have really knocked the wind out of Palace ahead of Wednesday's game with Newcastle, so we should thank them for that.

Nottingham Forest dropped points again thanks to a 94th-minute Everton goal and Aston Villa, of course, battered Southampton to move above the Magpies.

However, thanks to our game in hand, and the fact that we don't play until tomorrow, we're still best placed to nab one of the Champions League spots, and with Forest going off the boil, third place is also up for grabs now.

Two wins this week for Newcastle will see them up to third place

A win on Sunday will see Newcastle jump back up to fourth provided they better Chelsea's result, otherwise we will be parked in fifth on goal difference.

However, Newcastle's game in hand is coming up in midweek and if we beat Crystal Palace we jump into third spot.

Let's hope we can keep picking up these all-important wins and keep that advantage to ourselves. Tomorrow now has an extra incentive as we expect that the lads will want to give Eddie Howe something to feel good about with him being in the hospital.