Newcastle will struggle to keep a lid on expectations if they keep playing like this

It came with a side order of sarcasm, Tyneside tongues tucked firmly in their collective cheeks.

“We’re Newcastle and we’re going to win the league,” sang St James’ Park as Eddie Howe’s upwardly mobile team ran a fourth past shell-shocked Aston Villa.

But they are only five points off the best club side in world football, whose manager Pep Guardiola picked out coming force Newcastle last week as a “contender” for the title. Not yet they’re not, but on this form snatching a golden ticket to the Champions League is a realistic aim.

“There’s going to be a lot of noise outside,” Kieran Trippier said when asked about Newcastle’s top four chances.

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“Of course there’s going to be a lot of speculation, people talking about the Champions League but that’s for everyone else.

“We know where we are, we know we deserve to be there, especially given how we’ve performed. But when people are saying we’re going to win the league or Champions League… it’s a long season and we’re only a quarter of the way through.

“We know what we can achieve if we stick together. We’ve got our ambitions internally, although we’re not going to tell people what they are.”

Newcastle have not been shy of promoting their sky high objectives, irking Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp when director of football Dan Ashworth said there was no longer a ceiling to their ambition.

But European football – more specifically a place in the Champions League – would turbo charge their progress, ballooning revenues, opening doors and attracting an even higher calibre of player.

That these conversations are taking place at all is remarkable. Twelve months ago they were bottom of the league, winless and about to be turned down by Unai Emery. They moved for Howe instead and now play a brand of football that looks both controlled and confident.

Villa didn’t have an answer to it when Newcastle prised open their defence. And they joined the list of teams unable to breach a backline in which Sven Botman, a £32m summer signing, was once again outstanding.

Trippier is part of a collective who have ceded just 10 goals. He feels they can improve.

“There’s definitely more to come,” he said. “We can keep the ball better, be more clinical, I feel we’re giving shots away we shouldn’t, turning the ball over.

“There’s loads of things we can improve on but I feel we can still go up so many levels. The performances are there, the results are there but we can still improve.”

Gareth Southgate was at St James’ Park to witness Callum Wilson score twice. The first, an accomplished penalty after in-form Miguel Almiron had drawn a handball from Ashley Young, drew a grin from the England manager.

A second half header showcased Wilson’s instinctive movement and superior technique. With six goals in nine games, he has to be in the World Cup conversation even with his chequered injury record.

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“He deserves huge credit,” Trippier said of Newcastle’s No 9.

“All our strikers for England are different, Callum offers [runs] in behind, hold up play. His goalscoring record speaks for itself. He knows there’s a World Cup coming up, he knows he needs to perform – bottom line.”

Trippier’s position is different, defending what would appear to be a certain starting place. Southgate will have left satisfied with what he saw from a player he has always held in high regard although the 32-year-old refuted claims he is a guaranteed starter. He picked out Ben White and Trent Alexander-Arnold as fellow right-backs in fine form.

It is just as well Trippier says he is “100 per cent playing the best football of his career” under “unbelievable” Howe, a manager he rates as highly as Atletico Madrid’s serial winner Diego Simeone.

“I know I’m 32 and everyone goes on about if you get past 30 you’re done but I’m far from done,” he said.

“I feel fit as ever, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in so that’s a huge credit to the staff as well.”

It is a coaching staff that have a happy knack of drawing the best from players plateauing before they arrived. Almiron, who scored a sumptuous sixth goal in six games, is perhaps the best example of that but fellow goalscorer Joelinton has also been transformed.

In front of Brazil coach Tite he scored to cap another fine display. If his country requires a midfield enforcer in excellent form, he’s not busy in November.

“I still believe, I’m positive but I know it’s difficult with 20 days to go,” he said of his own World Cup hopes. As Newcastle’s supporters will testify, anything feels possible in the club’s new era.

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