As the city of Newcastle celebrates, there is one man who is, as ever, keeping his feet firmly on the ground. Eddie Howe insists he still isn't getting excited at the prospect of Champions League football, despite his Magpies side being inches away from celebrating a top four finish.
The north east outfit survived some second-half nerves to beat Brighton 4-1 under the St James' Park lights to move within touching distance from the Champions League. A Liverpool defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday and qualification is assured.
However, for Howe, it's just another day at the office and the focus is fully on Leicester City on Monday. Quizzed over whether he is getting excited at the prospect of European football, he responded: "Honestly I don't (get excited).
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"I take great pride in the performance tonight. I'll go back home, watch the game and I'll be, I hope, really proud of what I see, really enthused by the players delivering a brilliant product to watch for our supporters.
"The excitement stuff doesn't really exist in this job because you know there's just another game and another challenge and it won't stop even if we hit our goal. There'll just be another challenge and it will hit us in the face next season."
Newcastle blew Brighton away in the first-half by racing into a two-goal lead. The visitors pulled a goal back after the interval but late strikes from Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes sealed the deal.
“I feel that’s very much us at our best in that first half," Howe said. "We were relentless with what we did and full credit to the players for what they gave physically in that first half.
“It’s very difficult to maintain that for the full game. When Brighton scored, we were mature with what he had to do during that period before we got the late goals.”
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