Newcastle produced their best attacking display of the season last night in the UEFA cup when they tore AZ Alkmaar apart and were 3-0 up after only twenty three minutes with goals from Kieron Dyer and Martins, plus an own goal by Steinsson.

This was free flowing football right out of the Kevin Keegan era and Newcastle finally ran out 4-2 winners with another goal from Martins (number 16 of the season – what a buy!) but Alkmaar clawed back into the game with two vital away goals.

Emre made his long awaited return to the Newcastle team coming on as a substitute for Damien Duff in the 77^th minute. Lots of Newcastle’s injured players are now returning to action (Stephen Carr played at left back) so that Glenn Roeder will soon have some selection problems. However, this augers well for a good finish to the season which Newcastle desperately need to qualify for Europe.

The next leg next Thursday will be interesting and the tie is certainly not over yet - though with a three goal difference it surely would have been. Newcastle will need to be on their toes next week since a 2-0 AZ Alkmaar win will give them the tie.

This puts Newcastle in a good position to qualify for the UEFA quarter finals for the third time in their history.

Tottenham Hotspur also produced an excellent result in the same competition winning 3-2 away against Braga with two goals from Robbie Keane - who is now bang in form - and one from Steed Malbranque. This should be enough to see Tottenham through the tie and it would be nice to have two English teams in the quarter finals to go with the three we already have in the quarter finals of the European Champions League (Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United).

Either Tottenham or Newcastle are good enough to win the UEFA trophy this year so it will be interesting to see who they draw in the quarter finals - assuming they can see off their opponents next Thursday.

How about English teams winning both the European Champions league and the UEFA cup – it’s certainly a possibility and a good indication of just how strong the Premiership has become in the last few years.