Newcastle United have rediscovered the same clinical edge they had before the World Cup break earlier this season - just at the right time.
Toon head coach Eddie Howe was unhappy with sloppy defending against West Ham, but could not fault the way his side converted five chances at the London Stadium to rack up the club's biggest Premier League away win since 1998. Given that victory was away to Coventry City, who haven't played top-flight in two decades, and the game was at the long since demolished Highfield Road it shows how long it has been for fans to enjoy such a goal-laden top-flight away day.
For Howe, though it is all about the here and now, ahead of Brentford he summed up the good place his Newcastle squad are in at the present moment. Howe said: "Probably, since the World Cup, I don’t think we’ve been as clinical as we maybe were in the first part of the season. I think we’ve created a load of chances, but haven’t taken them.
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"At West Ham, it was roles reversed really, I didn’t think we were perfect in our performance and there’s a lot to reflect on that we could have done better. West Ham made it a good game, but when our chances did come, we took them, and that was probably the difference."
Howe is refusing to look too far ahead and even with 10 matches left and Newcastle in a great position for the Champions League places, he said: "Every positive result strengthens our position, but we’ve got huge games to come and a lot of points to play for. Nothing is going to be decided short term, but these are important wins."
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