Newcastle seals Champions League return with Leicester draw

Newcastle United is headed to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2003-04 despite being flustered in a scoreless draw with Leicester City at St. James’ Park on Monday.

The draw came after Newcastle dominated the ball but could only manage a point, moving four points clear of fifth-place Liverpool to guarantee no worse than fourth place.

Newcastle’s last European tournament was the 2012-13 Europa League when it lost to Benfica in the quarterfinals.

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The point could prove critical for Leicester City, who has 31 points and a vastly superior goal difference to 19th place Leeds.

The Foxes will stay in the Premier League with a win over West Ham on Championship Sunday and an Everton loss or draw versus Bournemouth.

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Leicester’s boss kept James Maddison and Harvey Barnes on the bench for the first half and soaked up Newcastle pressure to the tune of just 17 percent possession and 34 completed passes.

Maddison would enter at halftime, followed by Barnes and Patson Daka, though not much changed.

Newcastle hit the woodwork thrice, kept 77 percent possession, and out-attempted Leicester 23-1 with an xG advantage of 2.06 – 0.00 until Timothy Castagne was robbed by Nick Pope in stoppage time to raise that number to 0.07.

Yes, those were three zeroes: Leicester was that close to the rare imperfect game.

But Smith was playing for a draw and a puncher’s chance at a win. He got it. Is that too risky, leaving control out of its hands with Everton meeting Bournemouth at home? It would seems so, but it’s a plan that worked.

Bruno Guimaraes

Wilfred Ndidi

Sven Botman

Miguel Almiron

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe