Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe essentially banned any talk of the Magpies joining the title race in the immediate aftermath of the victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Instead, Howe spoke about the performance being unsatisfactory in some areas and insisted the display was "not perfect". With a tough home encounter against AFC Bournemouth ahead, Howe was eager to focus on the tactical battle that lies in wait against Andoni Iraola's side just days after they came close to beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Newcastle sit just nine points behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League, but the Reds have a game in hand. Shearer is absolutely right to suggest that United have a sniff of cashing in if, for any reason, Arne Slot's men take a tumble and like the fans he should have lofty ambitions.

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When asked if Liverpool's lead at the top was insurmountable, Shearer had said on Match of the Day: "No, it's not. The form that they [Newcastle] are in, the way they are looking - they are defensively solid, keeping clean sheets. There is no doubt that they have got the system working."

But while Howe has always encouraged fans to dream big, Howe said after the 3-0 win over Wolves: "It always feels good to manage this club in any way. It's obviously slightly easier when you're winning, but as I've said many times, there are still challenges that you face when you're in my shoes.

"But I'm enjoying the ride that we're on, and of course, we want it to continue, and that's my main focus now, to try to keep everything calm and just focus on what we have to do.

“I think we’ve made big steps forward. I think it will always be highlighted more because we’re winning games, but I don’t think it was totally broken then and I don’t think it’s totally fixed now. I think we always have stuff to work on. There’s always growth in the team, there’s definitely growth from today’s performance, but I think that’s a great sign for us.

"We’ve won 3-0, but I think we can do a lot better. The challenges aren’t getting easier, they’re going to get harder, so we have to improve. That’s going to be my message to the players – we have to be hard on ourselves in this successful run to have future success."

After the victory against Wolves the bookies did shorten Newcastle's title odds as Coral, Ladbrokes and William Hill reacted to the latest set of results. But the Magpies are still 50/1 to win the title.