Following their victory over Leicester City, Shay Given sees no reason why high-flying Newcastle United cannot envision themselves as Premier League champions.
Thanks to goals from Chris Wood, Miguel Almiron, and Joelinton, the Magpies won convincingly 3-0 at the King Power Stadium to move up to second place in the standings, four points behind leaders Arsenal.
For the first time since doing so on the way to a fifth-place finish under Alan Pardew 10 years ago, Newcastle has now won six straight Premier League games.
Newcastle has won 21 games through one game left in 2022, which is the most wins for them since they won 23 games in 1995. They came in second place in 1995–96.
Given, a former goalkeeper who made 462 appearances for St James’ Park between 1997 and 2009, thinks his former team can legitimately contend for the first top-flight championship since 1927, citing rivals Leicester’s incredible 2016 season as proof.
The 46-year-old manager stated to Amazon Prime Video: “Can Newcastle compete to win the league? Leicester did it a few years back, why can’t Newcastle dream of it? Why not?”
Eddie Howe followed Kevin Keegan (24 in 1994, 23 in 1995) and Roy Evans as the third English manager to win more than 20 Premier League games in a calendar year (22 in 1996).
However, the Magpies’ head coach is eager to maintain his team’s short-term focus.
“Internally, it’s [about keeping] expectations in check, not putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves,” he said. “Let’s just go into the next game and try to win it, try to execute our game plan as well as we have in previous games.
“Everyone else no doubt will talk and build things up. We can’t control it. Let people do it, as long as we’re internally focused on what we have to do to perform well.
Wood, who opened the scoring from the penalty spot, concurred: “It’s way too early to even think about that, but [the fans] can go on and dream.
“They’re enjoying it, and we just want to put on a show for them and show what we can do. It’s a great start.”
Joelinton, who sealed the points, added to BBC Sport: “We have to go game by game, and let’s see what we can achieve at the end of the season.”