Newcastle’s consistency is rewarded for securing Champions League football despite a draw with Leicester

of Newcastle The biggest win in twenty years was a draw. after 20 years Champions League, they are back, maybe going to Madrid, Munich or Milan next season. All they needed against Leicester was one point and they got one point. It was a stalemate to savor Eddie Howeis a largely uneventful game that has made dramatic progress in 18 months. Having hit rock bottom after his first match for which he was responsible, Newcastle will now stand shoulder to shoulder with the European elite. Maybe a draw means they could face Leicester again next season, but their fate is more uncertain.

They finished three places above Newcastle last year and are now 15 below them. The comeback was smart recruiting, excellent coaching, and a less pleasant victory for many outside of Tyneside, the Saudi owners of Newcastle. United had an injection of funds, but around £250m was largely pretty well spent. But about half of the starting line-up is made up of players Howe inherited and failed to win in three months of last season. Some are too advanced to be recognized. So is a team: Newcastle’s goal for the season was to qualify for continental competition. Even a spot in the Conference League could have been considered a success, but they went back to the Champions League instead.

A tremendous success for Howe, whose last full season resulted in Bournemouth’s relegation to the Championship. It might also be welcomed by one of the world’s more repressive regimes, where Newcastle is 80 percent owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Two of the power brokers, Jamie Reuben and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, were applauded when they found the net in a halftime shootout. Players had a hard time putting the finishing touches on the board as they hit the board three times.

This ultimately made more of a difference for Leicester, whose fate was not in their hands but still had some hope; They will survive if they beat West Ham and Everton don’t win. Their plight intensified their minds, but Newcastle succeeded where they narrowly failed twice under Brendan Rodgers. He finished fifth twice in seasons where Leicester were most of the time in the top four. Newcastle did the trick.

Maybe both the score line and venue fit. Only Liverpool and Arsenal have won at St James’ Park this season, and only four clubs have had victories there during Howe’s reign.

They owe their top four placement to consistency, especially for a spell on either side of the World Cup. The 17-game unbeaten streak was, at one stage, the longest unbeaten streak in any of Europe’s top five leagues. Only Manchester City lost less Premier League Newcastle, which has won as many games as Liverpool this season, can see the value of the draw in the table. They showed a resilience, reliability and determination that meant they could get to a point.

They did not concede many goals in the first half of the season; They’ve been less frequent lately, but Nick Pope’s good injury time save from Timothy Castagne prevented defeat and made them an anxious final day at Chelsea. They took advantage of two inspiring scoring bursts. miguel almiron in the fall and callum wilson in the past weeks.

Perhaps Wilson was more surprised to endure an empty night. Leicester had a clean slate for the first time in six months, but the honest ones needed help and relied on Newcastle’s malfunctioning radars. They received a double penalty twice just before the first half. Wilson scored nearly his eighth goal in six games, a shot on the pole and Wilfred Ndidi cleared the line. Then Almiron hit the post with a half volley before Alexander Isak flashed. In the most obvious way. After Wout Faes accidentally tapped Kieran Trippier’s corner, Bruno Guimaraes headed across a yard to the post. Leicester – as John Terry seems – qualified to claim that the Brazilian player should have been sent to the dressing room much earlier, but was saved by a yellow card for driving his nails into Boubakary Soumare’s knee; If VAR had intervened, the penalty could have been more severe.

But Leicester got what it came for. Dean Smith He adopted a safety policy in numbers to bolster his porous back protection by bringing in Harry Souttar as an extra defender and playing 5-3-2. In the most contentious and possibly unsuccessful way, the impotent strike duo, given the absence of threat Jamie Vardi and Kelechi Iheanacho captured – backing up two of his top goalscorers. James Madison Arrived at halftime, Harvey Barnes for the last half hour. After their side camped behind the ball for most of the match, neither changed course, even though Smith eventually encouraged them. That’s why Leicester needs help from elsewhere on the final day of the season. Newcastle needs none. Champions League, here they come.