The road splits into two directions.

The Magpies still hold their destiny in their own hands and know that a point against Leicester tomorrow morning (May 23) will help them secure a place back in the tournament they last played in the 2002-2003 season.

Even if they lose both their last two games against Leicester and Chelsea (28.5), Newcastle will still achieve their goal if Liverpool cannot score enough goals against Southampton to have a better goal difference than them. That means Liverpool have almost no chance of being in the top 4 of the Premier League this season, especially when MU just defeated Bournemouth (1-0) last weekend.

Newcastle (left) only need one more point to officially qualify for next season's Champions League.

Meanwhile, Leicester are on the brink of relegation for the first time since the 2014-15 season. At the moment, the "Foxes" desperately need a win to keep their hopes of staying up but it seems like everything is against them. Newcastle manager Howe has never lost a Premier League home game against Leicester (W4 D2), while the "Foxes" have not known victory in their last away game in the last 8 seasons (D3 L5).

Those are not the kind of statistics Smith wants to hear, especially when his Leicester side are given just a 30.8% chance of beating Newcastle by Opta's supercomputer, and even more sadly when the Foxes are tipped to follow Southampton into the top flight next season.

Newcastle have concerns about their squad with at least 6 of their players absent for various reasons, but Leicester are not far behind with at least 5 players on the sidelines. However, the concern is whether the Foxes can recover from 2 consecutive defeats against Fulham (3-5) and Liverpool (0-3)? Can Leicester's flawed defense stand up to Newcastle's formidable attack? And can the no-longer-scary attack of the visitors penetrate the solid defense of the home team?

It is difficult to find a positive answer to the above problems, even though Newcastle are unlikely to produce another impressive performance in just 5 days, after the destruction of Brighton (4-1) in the middle of last week. Moreover, Leicester are a team with almost no confidence at the moment with a rather poor record when playing away from home. Therefore, the match at St. James' Park tomorrow morning can split into two paths. It can take the "Magpies" to heaven and continue to banish the "Foxes" to hell.

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