Newcastle United boss makes Leeds United claim & Sunderland comparison after derby win

Newcastle United will be hoping to take confidence from a 3-0 win over Sunderland back into the Premier League ahead of a tough run of fixtures.

The Magpies ended a run of four straight defeats in all competitions with a convincing victory at the Stadium of Light thanks to a Dan Ballard own goal and a second-half double from Alexander Isak. After dropping to ninth in the Premier League table, Newcastle's next two matches see them face Manchester City and Aston Villa, who currently sit third and second in the table respectively.

Almost two years ago, Newcastle turned their faltering season around under Eddie Howe following a 1-0 win over Leeds United at Elland Road. It was only The Magpies' second win of the 2021-22 campaign and one which kick-started a run of 12 wins from their final 18 league matches to avoid relegation comfortably.

And Howe is hoping the derby win can have a similarly transformative impact on his side's season as they look to progress to the latter stages of the FA Cup and climb back into the European places in the league.

"I hope so, that game against Leeds was definitely transformative for us," Howe admitted. "We were desperate for any kind of win at that stage to try and stay in the Premier League.

"That was the [win] that really did turn the corner for us. It's a slightly different situation but we hope just as important and sometimes it just takes one game to reignite confidence levels again and hopefully that's the case."