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Oliver Jones

Callum Wilson admits Newcastle can ‘smell Champions League football’ after Tottenham win

Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson has opened up on how close his side are to securing their dream of Champions League football for next season.

The Magpies are currently sat in third after their 6-1 thrashing over Tottenham, in which the frontman came on as a second-half substitute and scored the side's sixth after just 65 seconds.

But after racing out to a 5-0 lead after just 20 minutes, Eddie Howe's side now believe that the Champions League spot is theirs to lose - if they can safely navigate their next two fixtures against relegation-threatened opponents Everton and Southampton.

READ MORE: Newcastle United 'will frighten the life out of Everton' as Magpies backed for another win

READ MORE: Bruno Guimaraes 'walks into' Newcastle United's last Champions League XI under Sir Bobby Robson

"If I'm being honest, I can smell Champions League football you know. It's getting closer, I can smell it Michail!" Wilson told West Ham striker Michail Antonio on BBC Sport's The Footballer's Football Podcast.

"But we've still got a few games to go, we've got a big week up ahead. At the end of next week, on the next pod, ask me again because we'd have had two games against two tricky opponents and if we can get six points out of those games, then we're one step closer and we'll have one foot into Europe.

"But if we don't get the results we desire, then it could be a different story. Big games, the only thing I'm thinking is that it's two games in a short space of time so I might get some minutes!

"Everton, they're in the relegation zone so they're going to have high motivation levels so we have to make sure we match them because we have a Champions League achievement that's on the line.

"Southampton at home, the last two home games have been Manchester United and Tottenham and we've beaten them both. So Southampton are bottom-of-the-league but that'll be a difficult game because we saw what happened to Arsenal recently.

"They raced into a lead and what a fantastic game that was. We can't afford that to happen because they'll shut up shop and make it difficult to break them down."

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