Eddie Howe is confident his Newcastle players will not be daunted by the challenge of securing Champions League qualification as the season draws to a close. The Magpies have four games in which to cement a top-four Premier League finish as they, Manchester United, Liverpool, Brighton and outsiders Tottenham jockey for position behind top two Manchester City and Arsenal. A 2-0 home defeat by the Gunners last weekend may have dented their charge and prompted hopes among the chasing pack of a late-season wobble, but head coach Howe was having none of it. Asked if the air around the training ground was a little heavier as a result of what is at stake in Saturday’s trip to relegation-threatened Leeds, he said: “The air should be lighter, not heavier. “We’re excited, that has to be our emotion. We’re looking forward to the challenges ahead, we’re not in any way, I don’t feel, daunted by it. “In sport, sometimes the more you think the more you damage yourselves, so play the game. These players have played all their lives and played because they enjoy it, so let’s strip away everything and let’s just perform well in our next game.” Newcastle head into the latest round of fixtures sitting in third place and knowing two more wins would almost certainly secure a place in European club football’s biggest competition next season – which would represent a significant upgrade on their target when they set out in August. We hope to be a nuisance for all teams. We don’t want to be nice to play against. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe Howe admitted: “The aim was to not be in another relegation battle, try to stay clear of that and then build a lot of aspects of the team and play to be successful and sustain that success long-term. “Things have snowballed, now we sit where we do and we’ve done incredibly well.” In the process, the Magpies have found themselves thrust into the limelight with opposition managers having taken aim at both their game-management and physicality. Asked if he felt they had people rattled, Howe said: “We hope to be a nuisance for all teams. We don’t want to be nice to play against.” Howe’s players will need to bring all that to bear at Elland Road, where Leeds are engaged in a desperate fight for top-flight survival with former Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce having been parachuted in to engineer a rescue mission. He and Howe were touted for the vacant England manager’s job back in 2016 before Allardyce got the nod for what proved to be the briefest of reigns. “Without remembering, I’d probably say I felt I shouldn’t maybe have been in that frame at that stage of my career,” Howe said. “I felt I had so much to achieve and experience before being elevated to that position. “But it’s always a compliment and you always take it in the right way, that it must mean you’re doing something right in your job to be elevated to those levels.” A bullish Allardyce ventured on his appointment at Leeds that he was as good a manager as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta, but Howe says he was not disappointed to be left off the list. “I wouldn’t be arrogant enough to push my name into that list,” he said. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Jurgen Klopp: Miracles happen but a top-four finish is still out of our hands Kitman Chris Marsh overcomes illness to help support Coventry’s promotion push Premier League and PFA announce new five-year partnership

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Lando Norris has revealed he had a number of expensive items stolen in a robbery at a villa in Marbella. It is the second time the British Formula One star has been targeted by thieves after he was accosted by two men and had his Richard Mille designer watch stolen after the Euro 2020 final at Wembley. McLaren driver Norris, 23 was understood to be on holiday in the south of Spain for three days when the incident took place. Speaking to the PA news agency ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Norris said: “We were out for dinner and our place got robbed. “A mixture of many things were stolen. Some were expensive and some were not so expensive. It is still an ongoing conversation so I cannot say too much.” Norris was reported to be on holiday with a group of friends, including influencer Jennie Dimova. Dimova posted a video to her TikTok, saying: “If you are wondering why I look like that it is because our villa got robbed and everything I have ever owned – my clothes, my shoes, my bags, my jewellery – everything has been taken – and I am left with literally nothing. I cried for two hours but what can I do?” The popular Norris is only 11th in this season’s drivers’ championship having scored points at just three of the opening eight rounds in his under-performing McLaren machine. The British team have brought an upgrade to this weekend’s event in Spielberg in the hope of turning their disappointing season around. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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