Newcastle now have 'door open' for exciting opportunity at St James' Park

Newcastle are “genuine contenders” for a top six finish this season, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.

The Toon Army climbed into the European places on Saturday as they continued their excellent start against Brentford by producing their biggest Premier League victory for more than six years.

Despite spending more than £120m in the summer window, Eddie Howe's side initially struggled in the early weeks of the season.

They recorded just one win from their opening seven fixtures and were finding goals hard to come by in the absence of Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson.

But since Wilson returned to the team at Fulham, Newcastle have looked back to their best.

Firstly, the Magpies thrashed the Cottagers 4-1 before going one better by beating Brentford 5-1 to climb into the top six at this stage of the season for the first time since 2013.

With Saint-Maximin and Alexander Isak still to come back into the fold and Bruno Guimaraes playing right at the top of his game, Jones believes that Newcastle could seriously gatecrash those top six positions, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea not completely at the races.

He told GIVEMESPORT: "I think the league is wide open, the structure of the traditional order is unsettled at the moment and that's opened the door for Newcastle at the perfect time because they've invested a load of cash, they've bought sensibly, they've put a team together really cleverly, and I think they look genuine contenders at the moment for the top six."

If Newcastle want to be considered genuine top six challengers, the next month or so will give them some sort of indication as to how close they are.

That's because in their next six games before the season pauses for the