Newcastle United

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Eddie Howe for manager of the year?

The Telegraph's Luke Edwards says the Newcastle boss deserves the accolade after leading the club to the "most successful season in living memory".

The Magpies are guaranteed European football next season and not only is Champions League qualification in their hands, but so is the chance to finish in second place.

"It has been an incredible campaign, especially given the fact they didn't sign a player last summer to improve the first team," said Edwards on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "At the start of the season they were really struggling and inconsistent, so they were as low as 12th.

"There was some small murmurings at the beginning of December about whether Eddie Howe had ran his course and needed to be replaced - but look at them now.

"Over the past 20 games, only Liverpool have taken more points than them, plus they have won the Carabao Cup and ended their 70 year wait for a domestic trophy. It is in their hands to now finish second and equal their record for a highest finishing position in the Premier League era.

"It has been a brilliant season and I give loads of praise to Howe because it was in danger of unravelling at one point.

"Howe has cleared those problems up and he has turned it into the most successful season in living memory for Newcastle.

"He is my manager of the year."

Listen to the Football Daily podcast on BBC Sounds

The latest episode of BBC Sport's Newcastle United Podcast has landed.

The Total Sport team are joined by the i paper's northern football correspondent Mark Douglas to discuss untold stories from his time covering the Magpies, including his dealings with Alan Pardew and Rafa Benitez.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Highlights and analysis from Sunday's five Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Southampton 0-0 Man City

• Bournemouth 0-1 Aston Villa

• Manchester United 0-2 West Ham

• Nottingham Forest 2-2 Leicester

• Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal

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Newcastle manager Eddie Howe speaking to BBC Match of the Day after the 2-0 victory over Chelsea: "It was anxious in the second half, that was an interesting 45 minutes. We played really well in the first half, we were electric, but a mixture of things - the psychology of the game, the scoreline, 10 v 11 - it made it a difficult second half. I thought Chelsea did really well but we hung in there.

"The crowd were up for the game, the atmosphere was amazing.

"We're on the road to what we want to do this season, but there's still a lot of work to do and two tough fixtures to play.

"The size of the prize is huge, the players are aware of that. There was a worry when we won the trophy [League Cup] that there would be a negative consequence of that, but I think it actually gave us confidence."

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Newcastle United picked up their 20th Premier League win of the season, the first time they have won 20+ games in a single season in the competition since 2002-03 (21), which was the last time they finished in the top three of the division.

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Newcastle's performance

What did you make of Chelsea's display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

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Five matches make up Sunday's Premier League action and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.

• Newcastle v Chelsea (12:00)

• Manchester United v West Ham - BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

• Nottingham Forest v Leicester City - BBC Radio 5 Live

• Tottenham v Crystal Palace - live on the BBC Sport website

• Liverpool v Arsenal (16:30) - BBC Radio 5 Live

All kick-off times 14:15 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

It's great to see two teams going head-to-head in this race for the top five and Chelsea probably come into it in better form after getting a great result against Liverpool on Sunday.

Yes, they were playing straight after Liverpool had won the title and the Reds had probably been celebrating all week, but they still had to put them away and they did that convincingly.

It means Enzo Maresca's side have won their past three league games so they will be full of confidence ahead of this one, but it's going to be tough for them to extend that run.

We know Maresca is a stickler for playing out from the back, but doing that against Newcastle is asking for trouble. The Magpies will put them under serious pressure, because that's what they do to teams at St James' Park.

Newcastle have got a very physical midfield which might be where the battle is won and lost, and of course Alexander Isak is such a threat too.

Chelsea have got match-winners too, if Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke are firing, and my first thought was that there will be lots of goals in this game.

With what's at stake, though, it might be a little cagier than that. I think the BBC readers will go for a draw but I am going to stick my neck out and say Newcastle will edge it.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Read the full predictions and have your say here

Liam MacDevitt
Football Focus

Newcastle United winger Jacob Murphy is having the season of his career.

Murphy had two loan spells in the Championship in his first three seasons at Newcastle - with West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday.

His career has been somewhat of a slow burner. Until this season he had not scored more than four Premier League goals in a season.

"I do have targets, but I never try to force it," said Murphy.

"I always let it come to me if I'm doing the correct things. That's how the universe works, it'll always find you. This season it has been finding me.

"I have a great striker in Alex [Isak] to provide for and great experience behind me. Everything is clicking to help elevate my game and then I think my game elevates others."

Murphy was part of the Newcastle team that beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Carabao Cup final in March - and set up Isak's goal to make it 2-0.

That was the Magpies' first trophy since the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 - and their first domestic one since the 1955 FA Cup.

Murphy also played in the 2023 Carabao Cup final, which Newcastle lost to Manchester United.

"Wembley was amazing," said Murphy. "The feeling was a lot different this time compared to when we were runners-up a couple of seasons ago.

"We felt ready. We felt this was our time. The build-up was good. A lot less nerves. Once the game started something felt different."

Here more from Murphy in Football Daily on BBC Sounds

Read more about his journey