The 'massive advantage' Newcastle United hold on Aston Villa and other Champions League rivals

Former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew believes his old club hold a ‘massive advantage’ over their rivals for a place in next season’s Champions League - and revealed the one club he ‘fears’ will miss out in the top five race.

The Magpies were in dominant form once again on Wednesday night as they followed up their 4-1 home win against Manchester United by going one better against Crystal Palace. An own-goal from reported United transfer target Marc Guehi and goals from Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar and Alexander Isak helped Eddie Howe’s side move into third place in the Premier League table and they have now built up a five point gap to sixth-placed Chelsea with just six games to play.

Significantly, Pardew, who guided Newcastle to the quarter-final of the Europa League during a four-year reign at St James Park, believes chasing down second placed Arsenal will now be the main driver for the Magpies throughout their remaining six fixtures.

Speaking on punditry duties with Sky Sports, Pardew said: “It’s a bit like in the Championship, it’s momentum, it’s a massive advantage and Newcastle have that in abundance at the moment. They play Arsenal, obviously it ‘s away, but I think runners-up is something Newcastle, Eddie and the team will definitely have an eye on because that will be massive for them to win a cup and be runners-up - so they will be chasing them down. I had this at Newcastle when we finished fifth, we thought we were going to get in the Champions League but just at the end, the quality of the other teams just come through and I just fear for Nottingham Forest that after this amazing season, they might just miss out.”

“They’re bubbling, they’ll be looking forward to it”

A tough-looking trip to fellow top five contenders Aston Villa is next on the agenda for the Magpies as their hosts look to close the gap to the Champions League places after suffering a heartbreaking exit from the competition earlier this week. After falling to a 3-1 loss in the away leg of their quarter-final tie with Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain last week, Unai Emery’s men came close to turning the tie on its head as they battled to a 3-2 win on home soil. Their return to Premier League action could prove a tough task for Villa boss Unai Emery according to Pardew as he reflected on a ‘dream’ week on the pitch for Magpies assistant manager Jason Tindall.

“It’s been a dream for him (Tindall), to come in as a manager and win two games four and five. He’s going to go into that Villa game, he doesn’t even have to make a change, he can name the same team again. That’s brilliant for him. I think that’s a really interesting game because, emotionally, for Villa, that would have been a hard task last night, to pick the boys up this morning and for the weekend, it’s going to be a difficult job. Whereas Newcastle, they turn around, they’re bubbling, they’ll be looking forward to it.”

Your next Newcastle United read: ‘Special’ - Alan Shearer and ex-Newcastle United man react to masterclass v Crystal Palace