The Magpies still hold their destiny in their own hands and know that a point against Leicester tomorrow morning (May 23) will help them secure a place back in the tournament they last played in the 2002-2003 season.
Even if they lose both of their last two games against Leicester and Chelsea (28.5), Newcastle will still achieve their goal if Liverpool cannot score enough goals against Southampton to have a better goal difference than them. That means Liverpool have almost no chance of making it into the top 4 of the Premier League this season, especially when MU just defeated Bournemouth (1-0) last weekend.
Newcastle (left) only need one more point to officially have a ticket to the Champions League next season.
Meanwhile, Leicester are on the brink of relegation for the first time since the 2014-15 season. At the moment, the "Foxes" are in dire need of a win to keep their hopes of staying up but it seems like everything is against them. Newcastle manager Howe has never lost a Premier League home game against Leicester (W4 D2), while the "Foxes" have not won their last away game in the last 8 seasons (D3 L5).
It's not the kind of statistic Smith wants to hear, especially when Opta's supercomputer gives Leicester just a 30.8% chance of beating Newcastle, and even more sadly when the Foxes are tipped to follow Southampton into the Championship next season.
Newcastle have squad concerns with at least six players missing for various reasons, but Leicester are no better with at least five players on the sidelines. However, the concern is whether the Foxes can recover from two consecutive defeats to Fulham (3-5) and Liverpool (0-3)? Can Leicester's flawed defence stand up to Newcastle's formidable attack? And can the visitors' no-longer-scary attack penetrate the home team's solid defence?
It is difficult to find positive answers to the above questions, even though Newcastle are unlikely to produce another impressive performance in just 5 days, after the destruction of Brighton (4-1) in the middle of last week. Moreover, Leicester are a team with almost no confidence at the moment, with a rather poor record when playing away from home. Therefore, the match at St. James' Park tomorrow morning can be divided into two paths. It can take the "Magpies" to heaven and continue to banish the "Foxes" to hell.
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