Huge Champions League bonus for Newcastle United – Just when you thought couldn’t get better

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Newcastle United winning their first trophy in 56 years.

Newcastle United winning their first domestic trophy in 70 years.

Newcastle United defeating Liverpool for the first time under Eddie Howe.

That whole Wembley experience on Sunday.

Just when you think things couldn’t get any better…

…they do.

If Carlsberg did perfect Newcastle United weekends, this surely is it.

On top of that magnificent trophy win, a massive Champions League bonus for Newcastle United

Whilst we were all focussing (UNDERSTANDABLY!) on other matters, there were some potentially huge Premier League fixtures this past weekend that could help or hinder the NUFC cause when it comes to potential Champions League qualification.

Eight Premier League matches scheduled for this weekend and seven of Newcastle United’s Champions League qualification rivals had matches to play ahead of the international break.

Here are the Premier League results from the weekend:

Saturday 15 March

Everton 1 West Ham 1

Ipswich 2 Forest 4

Man City 2 Brighton 2

Southampton 1 Wolves 2

Bournemouth 1 Brentford 2

Sunday 16 March

Arsenal 1 Chelsea 0

Fulham 2 Spurs 0

Leicester 0 Man U 3

A brilliant Premier League weekend for Newcastle United now also completed.

Forest predictably beating a doomed Ipswich side and Fulham who started the weekend in tenth spot defeating Spurs

However, other than that pretty perfect.

Man City led twice but Brighton equalised both times, whilst Brentford bounced back from gifting an own goal and won at Bournemouth.

Arsenal defeated Chelsea and so…

This is how the table now looks on Monday morning (17 March 2025) after the weekend’s Premier League fixtures:

I think Forest are now looking very good for top five and Champions League football, along with Liverpool and Arsenal.

So then I think for the other two CL spots, up to seven clubs fighting it out.

With five teams set to qualify for the Champions League, the weekend’s results mean that if Newcastle won their game in hand they would be fourth in the table.

I think that going out of the FA Cup was painful BUT in the bigger picture has helped Newcastle United win that League Cup Final AND will help NUFC get Champions League qualification as well.

After the international break, Newcastle have a free weekend instead of an FA Cup quarter-final and that means a 17 day gap between Wembley and facing Brentford at home. It means Eddie Howe will have pretty much a full week of preparation as well with his whole squad, including those who will have been on international duty.

The next four games are Brentford at home, Leicester away, Man U and Palace at home.

This is a huge opportunity to pretty much almost seal top five and Champions League qualification, as 10-12 points from these next four games is more than achievable. If those matches go our way, Newcastle United would have 57 or 59 points with six games left to play, plus I think NUFC would likely be at least five or six points clear of sixth place.

Liverpool 1 Newcastle 2 – Sunday 16 March 4.30pm

(Stats via BBC Sport)

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Burn 45, Isak 52

Liverpool:

Chiesa 90+4

Possession was Newcastle 34% Liverpool 66%

Total shots were Newcastle 17 Liverpool 7

Shots on target were Newcastle 6 Liverpool 2

Corners were Newcastle 9 Liverpool 4

Touches in the box Newcastle 26 Liverpool 17