Looking to Europe

A week ago Pardew and the players were answering questions about a possible European place by saying the team were only focused on the league and the next game. Now, having recorded a seventh straight win, the club is allowing itself to think about the possibility of playing in Europe next year.

Alan Pardew said yesterday, "Europe? I’m not going to sit here and say “we’re not going to talk about that” There’s a genuine chance for this team ... there’s a lot of power in this team so if we can keep the confidence levels high we can have a chance. The game can play tricks on you though. Injuries etcetera it can all turn ugly."

Anton Ferdinand seems to agree, "Things are going very well. I'm not surprised at all. We have got belief in our squad that we can play with the best and beat the best and we have showed it this year.

"Why not look forward? We don't need to look back and Europe is not that far away from us."