'What I want' - Man City boss Pep Guardiola makes vow Newcastle United fans will love ahead of FA Cup Final

Newcastle United’s hopes of securing European football for the second consecutive season sit firmly in the hands of newly crowned Premier League champions Manchester City.

Sunday’s 4-2 win at Brentford ensured Eddie Howe’s side ended the season sat in seventh place in the Premier League table, which could be enough to claim a place in next season’s Europa Conference League. Although the Magpies are now in Australia as they prepare for friendly fixtures with Tottenham Hotspur and the A-League All Stars, there will be one eye on events at Wembley this weekend when City face local rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup Final.

For the first time in Premier League history, Newcastle finished above the Red Devils - but Erik ten Hag’s men could have the last laugh as a win over City would see them claim a place in the Europa League and see sixth placed Chelsea take Newcastle’s spot in the Europa Conference League. Speaking about the situation after the win over Brentford, Magpies boss Howe admitted looking for help from elsewhere was ‘not a nice situation’.

He said: “We anticipated after losing against Manchester United that our control of the situation had gone. It’s never a nice situation, but whatever happens, happens. We have issues to solve defensively. If we can do that, next season could be another season of really strong performances. This was a season that could have been better, but a good season overall. We're a real united club. I think we're still moving forward, so there's a lot to be positive about. Of course we’ll be hoping for a result that helps us (in the FA Cup Final) but we can’t control it. We want those extra games in Europe. I’ve said it all season.”

There may have been some concerns from Newcastle supporters after several members of the City squad were pictured celebrating their title win in the early hours of Monday morning as they look for a helping hand from Guardiola and his squad. But the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager admitted his players are as motivated as ever as they look to claim back-to-back Premier League and FA Cup wins.

He told Sky Sports: "I start to think about no-one has done four in a row, why don't we try? - and now I feel it's done, so what next? FA Cup. Gary Lineker told me that no team has done back to back Premier Leagues and FA Cups.

“What I want is for my players is to enjoy two or three days and then we have two days to prepare the final but right now I don't know what exactly the motivation is to do it [next season] because it's difficult to find it when everything is done. But knowing the players and myself I know that when we are there we will say why should we not win today? Why should we not work as much as possible to do what we have to do? And I know we are going to do it.”