Eddie Howe has declared 'anything is possible' for Newcastle United this season as the Magpies bid to keep their winning run going.

Newcastle have recorded eight straight victories in all competitions as a Premier League side for the first time in nearly two decades. Howe's team, in the process, have closed the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea to just a single point; taken control of their Carabao Cup semi-final following an impressive 2-0 win at Arsenal; and progressed into the fourth round of the FA Cup.

There is a lot of football still to play, of course, but it feels like the landscape is changing. Between 2006 and 2022, Leicester City were the only side to disrupt the established order but Newcastle and Aston Villa have both qualified for the Champions League since then.

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"I believe anything is possible for us," Howe told reporters ahead of the visit of Wolves to St James' Park on Wednesday night. "I said the same last season and the season before, too. There's never a ceiling on what you can achieve.

"The only ceiling is what you potentially put in your own way. That's an important point. I don't think we can try and put anything in our way. We have got to focus on ourselves. We have to continue to be the best us.

"I think we have got a great, tight-knit squad. We don't have huge numbers. Any player we lose from injury is a big blow for us - that's why the Harvey [Barnes] situation was a big blow on Sunday - but there are opportunities for other players to step up and prove their worth."

While Newcastle have a 25-man squad, like everyone else, Howe's reference to 'numbers' hints at the greater depth some of the Magpies' rivals have and the more a club spends on wages in the Premier League, historically, the more points they pick up per game. However, that trend has been bucked in the first half of this season.

Nottingham Forest are currently third, Newcastle are fifth, champions Manchester City are sixth, Bournemouth are seventh, Spurs are 12th and Manchester United are 13th. As refreshing as the table has been for neutrals, it is the last thing the usual suspects wanted.

Amanda Staveley previously slammed a group of clubs for 'doing everything they can to make sure' that the Champions League places were available to as few sides as possible after new related-party sponsorship rules were introduced following the takeover. Staveley was left 'p----- off' by the vote and a rival executive later admitted that the Newcastle buy-out 'heightened' concerns and 'encouraged the clubs to seek action'.

However, those APT regulations have not stopped Newcastle from being able to compete. In fact, only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal have picked up more points since Howe took charge of a relegation-threatened side in 2021.

Newcastle will not be getting carried away, though. Players and staff are simply taking a game at a time because they know how quickly things can change.

After all, it was just a few weeks ago that Newcastle were languishing in the bottom half following a 4-2 defeat at Brentford. That sobering loss at the Gtech Community Stadium ended up proving a turning point of sorts after Howe recognised his players needed support rather than harsh words.

"We haven't done anything radically different," he added. "People naturally assume after the Brentford game I ripped the walls off and then the players responded.

"Nothing could be further from the truth because you have your beliefs, your principles and your style of play. Then you're just always moulding, tweaking and changing that to try and find a winning formula.

"The biggest people who deserve credit and a lot of praise are the players for what they've done, how they've put that Brentford defeat behind them and how they responded to that moment. The consistency that we've shown since then has been what we've been craving all season. That run of winning games that everyone is fighting for is what we've managed to put together. Now the key thing is we can't fall off that and we have got to continue to be as focused as we have been."