Ryan Taylor adamant Champions League rivals will fear Newcastle and gives views on title race

In the second part of an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes, former Newcastle defender Ryan Taylor spoke about the Magpies’ Champions League campaign, Saturday’s clash with Burnley and the title race.

Click on the link for part one for Taylor’s reaction to Newcastle’s Carabao Cup victory against Manchester City and his thoughts on Tino Livramento, the fourth-round clash with Manchester United and his concerns for the squad.

Chelsea weren’t as bad under Frank Lampard and Graham Potter

It’s so hard to look past Man City for the title – you can’t do it. But there are a few teams who will fancy their chances of pushing them all the way. Tottenham look like they’ve finally turned up for a Premier League season. Arsenal are always going to be a threat and then you’ve got Liverpool who are looking really strong right now.

It’s just, where do City drop points? When they go to places like Tottenham, like Arsenal, like Anfield, those are the games where you’ve got to take points off them if you’re going to stop them from winning the league.

Liverpool do look good again this season and they’ve made some fantastic signings. Dominik Szoboszlai looks like he’s going to be a very good player for them. They’ve got goals all over that team, it’s just a case of whether or not it’s enough to stop City over the course of a 38-game season.

You’re always going to fancy City to win the league, though. Especially when Pep Guardiola is there, and you’ve got that absolute goal machine up front. The big one for me, though, is around Kevin De Bruyne and how long he’s actually going to be out for. If they’re going to be without him for the majority of the season, then that could cost them the Premier League title.

But behind those four clubs, you’ve still got Newcastle who will fancy their chances of causing a few upsets and having a go. If Newcastle can get in the Champions League places by the end of the season, then it will have been a successful year, for sure. You know, no one’s expecting Newcastle to win the league, but no one expected Leicester to win the league, did they?

So there’s your five big teams who’ll be up there.

You just can’t look anywhere near Man United or Chelsea this season. There’s no consistency there from United. There’s nothing from Chelsea. I think I’ve backed them to win this weekend against Fulham, but that’s probably more in hope than expectation. Maybe that local derby, away from home, might kickstart Mauricio Pochettino’s season.

But he’s got injuries, he’s got suspensions. When they played against Liverpool on the first day of the season, I was just watching thinking ‘I didn’t even know half of these players were there!’ They’re obviously good players, but you’re just like ‘where’s he come from?’

They’ve just got far too many players. The job Poch has got on his hands is going to be pretty much impossible. You look back now and you think maybe Frank Lampard and Graham Potter weren’t even that bad. No one can get a tune out of them at the moment, for some reason.

Champions League teams will fear Newcastle

Well, when I first saw the Champions League draw, I thought Newcastle would do very well to get out of that group. There are three teams in there who are constantly playing Champions League football, with so much history behind them.

But then you just think, ‘do you know what, we’ve got six games here – five now – let’s just have a right go’. Newcastle have got nothing to lose, so they’re very much the unknown for those other three teams. I watched the AC Milan game and while they were under a lot of pressure at points, I just thought if they can keep nicking draws on the road, teams aren’t going to have it easy at St James’ Park by any stretch of the imagination. That place is going to be electric when teams come to town, especially if Newcastle get the first goal. The place will be bouncing. Any mistake you make as an opposition player, you’re just jumped on by the crowd. They make you feel silly. They’ll drain you of confidence.

And then the team isn’t afraid to go for it. Even when they went a goal up against Man City this week, the team was still looking for a second, while staying tight at the back. They didn’t have to do that, but that’s just the way they play.

I think Newcastle will get out of that Champions League group. They’re raw, they’re the unexpected package, but teams will fear coming to Newcastle, for sure. I know that.

Clarets set for Magpies mauling

Burnley are going to be so fearful of what’s ahead of them this weekend. They’ll have looked at that performance against Manchester City and the first thing they’ll have noticed is how many first-team regulars were rested. Players are going to come back in fresh and full of confidence after that 8-0 win against Sheffield United.

But I always worry when a team scores that many goals in one game that they’ve just saved one or two for the next game. Don’t use them all up at once!

Burnley are winless, Newcastle have kept four clean sheets on the spin. It’s not going to be another 8-0, it won’t even be five or six, I don’t think. I think Newcastle, at home, are going to turn Burnley over. I’m going to say they win 4-0.

Newcastle have just got too much confidence, but they’ve got to be mindful about that PSG game they’ve got coming up next week. But they can go into this game against Burnley, be strong for an hour, get a couple of goals and bring their main players off. Then let the lads who haven’t been playing go on, fill their boots and see the game out.