Newcastle United's Premier League survival hopes were handed a major boost after Burnley slipped up at home to Leicester City last night. The 2-0 defeat maintains a four-point gap between the Magpies and Sean Dyche's side and means the gap can now be stretched to a healthy seven points this weekend.
Were United to beat Brighton & Hove Albion at St James' Park and Chelsea beatBurnley at Turf Moor it would be another big step towards safety. Toon boss Eddie Howe has kept a cool stance towards the short-term future at Newcastle and insists it has to be about focusing on the next game.
He said: "It's going to be tight right till the end. We don't want to be involved, we want to elevate ourselves away from trouble as quickly as possible, but there's no guarantee on that.
"We're in a really good run of form, we want to maintain this for as long as possible, but we have some tough fixtures to come."
After a night of action in the FA Cup and Premier League, Newcastle's schedule was also eased by the success of Crystal Palace against Stoke City in round five The March 20 fixture with the Eagles has now been postponed and will take place at a later date.
It means that Newcastle's schedule has been reduced to three away games in seven days, Southampton, Chelsea and Everton, rather than four games in the space of 10.
