For quite a while the excellence of Everton’s Jordan Pickford and Carlos Alcaraz threatened to derail Newcastle’s Champions League ambitions.
Ultimately Aston Villa’s defeat at Manchester United enabled Eddie Howe’s team to stumble into European’s showpiece competition on goal difference but, as confirmation of the result from Old Trafford finally arrived and the home players broke into an almost obligatory bout of linking arms and bouncing on the spot they looked almost sheepish.
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