Anthony Gordon moves ahead of Alan Shearer as Newcastle’s king of Europe

Hello and welcome to live, minute-by-minute coverage of Newcastle v PSV Eindhoven at St James’ Park. Newcastle’s last Champions League campaign went south because of a dodgy penalty decision in their penultimate group game against PSG; this year they hope to have more joy in their penultimate league game against PSV.

Permutations ain’t what they used to be, not in a 32-team league, so it’s hard to say with complete certainty how many points Newcastle need from their last two games against PSV and – yep – PSG next week. But a win tonight would probably ensure qualification for the playoff round, while also keeping Newcastle right in contention for a top-eight finish and automatic qualification for the round of 16.

Newcastle have 10 points from their six Champions League games. That’s two more than PSV, who start the night in 21st place. They’re a hard side to read: they started the campaign by losing home to Union Saint-Gilloise, who Newcastle thrashed 4-0 a fortnight later. PSV have also lost at home to Atletico Madrid – but they have also hammered the champions of Italy and England: Napoli were beaten 6-2 in Eindhoven, Liverpool stunned 4-1 at Anfield. They are also runaway leaders in the Netherlands, 16 points clear after only 19 games.

Both clubs were managed with distinction by Sir Bobby Robson, and Eddie Howe wants Newcastle to produce a performance in his image. “We’re all aware of the history with Sir Bobby,” said Howe. “There were certain values he stood for: hard work, organisation, always going to the end, never giving up, and trying to do the crowd justice by representing the club in the right way – these are all values he stood for.

“He wanted teams to fully commit to the crowd and give it everything on a match day. That’s what we are going to try to do. We have been trying to live by those principles ever since I arrived here.”

Kick off 8pm.