Eddie Howe reveals Newcastle ‘disappointment’ ahead of Champions League-defining Leeds trip

NEWCASTLE: Eddie Howe has revealed he’d be ‘disappointed’ if Newcastle United somehow missed out on Champions League football.

Deep into the final three weeks of the season, the Magpies are three points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool, with a game in hand. Newcastle, who occupy third place in the Premier League standings, also play their next encounter two days prior to the Reds, taking on Leeds United in the top flight early kick-off on Saturday.

And while Howe is keen not to dwell on the negatives heading to Yorkshire to take on the struggling Whites, he has let slip that he would be less than pleased should his side throw away a chance at top four qualification, especially as the situation is in their own hands.

When asked whether he would be disappointed, Howe said: “I have to say at this moment, probably, yes. But I don’t really want to focus on that negative.

“It’s a difficult question to answer because you’re trying to take me somewhere that I don’t want to be. We are where we are at the moment and we want to consolidate that and do as well as we can in these last four games. I’d be better answering that at the end of the season.”

For the first time since the 2011-12 season, Newcastle have secured European qualification. The following season, 2012-13, Alan Pardew took his fifth-placed finishers to a Europa League quarterfinal, which ended in an aggregate loss to Benfica.

Howe is keen for the “back slapping” to be kept to the end of the season, though.

“When you look at that as a statement, you transport yourself back to the start of the season and go ‘we will guarantee European football the following season’ would have been ‘wow, that’s incredible’,” he said.

“Nothing more than Newcastle deserves but the