LEICESTER – Eddie Howe admitted Newcastle United fans will be dreaming of an unexpected English Premier League title challenge after his side’s 3-0 win at Leicester City on Monday.

Howe’s side climbed to second place thanks to a first-half goal blitz at the King Power Stadium.

They, however, could be overhauled by champions Manchester City, should the Citizens beat Leeds United on Wednesday.

Chris Wood’s penalty, a sublime Miguel Almiron effort and Joelinton’s strike gave Newcastle a three-goal lead by the 32nd minute in their first top-flight match since the World Cup break.

Howe was delighted to see Newcastle’s pre-World Cup momentum was not affected by the pause for the tournament.

It has been a brilliant start to the campaign for the Magpies and Howe knows their fans, who have been starved of success for decades, are beginning to dream of ending their long wait for silverware.

“My attitude won’t change to that. I have no problems with the supporters dreaming and talking and speculating about what we can achieve and no doubt the media will. I can’t control that,” he said.

“The only thing we need to be mindful of internally is just focus on what we can control and our own thoughts and actions and how we train and how we prepare.

“And not look too far ahead and not listen to too much news and media, and just focus on our training and make sure we focus on it game by game.”

For the first time since Kevin Keegan’s reign in the 1990s, Newcastle find themselves in the title race.

However, while Newcastle have been revitalised by Howe and the club’s Saudi-backed owners, winning the Premier League might be a step too far at this stage of their development.

They have not won a major trophy since the 1969 Inter Cities Fairs Cup, while their last major domestic prize was the 1955 FA Cup.

At the very least, a strong bid to qualify for next season’s Champions League looks within their reach.

Howe, who took his squad to Saudi Arabia during the World Cup break, was encouraged by the way the Magpies brushed aside Leicester with the kind of clinical display that has proved beyond them for years.

“I’d say the performance was up there when you consider the opposition and the game and the break and everything that has gone into to preparing for this game,” he said.

“To start in the manner we did was hugely important. Credit to the players for how they have attacked their game.

“We scored some very good goals and the general mentality of the group was very, very good after the break. Today was a big test for us and I’m delighted with how the players started.”

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers, however, was far from impressed with his side.

“The start of the game was clearly disappointing, we were so slow, our attitude was really poor, before we know it we’re 2-0 down,” he told Amazon Prime.

“We lacked many things today, they were way better than us from the start of the game.” AFP, REUTERS