Howe hopes Newcastle can avoid play-off ahead of PSV tie

Eddie Howe has said he hopes Newcastle can avoid a Champions League play-off ahead of facing PSV Eindhoven this evening.

The Magpies are 13th in the standings ahead of hosting the Dutch champions tonight, but know a win will take them back into the top eight. Each of the top eight sides progress automatically to the Round of 16, avoiding the play-off round.

Howe said avoiding the added games is a huge incentive for Newcastle in a challenging campaign to date, but acknowledged there’s work to be done. After facing PSV, Newcastle travel to European champions Paris Saint-Germain in their final league phase fixture.

“It’s a massive incentive because it means less games in a season that we’ve been stretched physically and mentally. The priority is to qualify however we do that.

“We’re striving every game to maximise what we can deliver. The Marseille game still hurts us a bit because we were in a strong position in that game. “We’ve got two games left and we have to commit to every game and try to win every game and see where it takes us.”

Newcastle laboured to a drab goalless draw at Wolves at the weekend, to continue an inconsistent season so far. However, Howe insists he has seen positive signs from his team in recent weeks.

“I think since the (November) international break, the Manchester City game, I’ve seen an upturn in performances generally. We’ve been much more consistent. In that break we did a lot of work, probably the only time we’ve been able to train in recent months.

“It’s not been perfect, there has been the odd game where we haven’t performed to the level we want to but generally much better. Much more like ourselves, scoring goals again. The challenge for us is to maintain that.”

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