WHAT a difference a week makes. Seven days ago, Kieran Trippier was on his way to Bayern Munich, Miguel Almiron was heading to Saudi Arabia and Callum Wilson was seemingly on offer to the highest bidder. Newcastle were facing a tricky away game in the FA Cup and in freefall, tumbling down the Premier League table.

Now, while the transfer window does not swing shut until 11pm tomorrow evening, it looks extremely unlikely that any of Newcastle’s big names will be heading through the exit door. With Fulham beaten, the Magpies are looking forward to an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Championship opposition in the shape of Blackburn Rovers, and are back up to seventh in the league after inflicting a first home defeat of the season on Aston Villa.

If not quite rosy, then everything in the garden is at least looking far healthier than was the case for much of January.

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“I think it’s been a big week for us,” admitted Eddie Howe, whose tactical acumen was a key factor in Tuesday’s 3-1 win at Villa Park. “With the Fulham game, we knew that staying in the FA Cup was going to have a big bearing on the feeling around the club.

“We were well aware of that, and we took the positivity from that into the Villa game. Hopefully, that game will now kick renewed life into our Premier League season. Hopefully, we can now grow and develop our consistency back in our game, that we had for all of last season.”

Having been ravaged by injury for much of the campaign, it is surely no coincidence that Newcastle’s upturn has come with last season’s back four reunited and back up to full speed.

Saturday’s clean sheet against Fulham was morale-boosting, with Sven Botman and Dan Burn performing especially impressively, and while Newcastle might have conceded a late goal to Ollie Watkins on Tuesday night, they were defensively superb throughout, with two-goal hero Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier leading the way.

In the last few months, a lot of attention has been focused on Newcastle’s lack of attacking options and lengthy injury list in the final third. Increasingly, though, it looks as though the absence of a couple of key defenders was a major factor in their unravelling.

“I definitely see an improvement in our defensive displays,” said Howe. “The Fulham game was a big step forward in that respect, and then against Villa we had another big jump forward.

“When you consider we’ve had Dan Burn out for a long time and then coming straight back into the team, and the same with Sven, then it’s only natural that they took a bit of time to get back to their best rhythm.

“But now I think you’re seeing both players play very strongly. They’re such big players for us, and if you put them together with the way Fab and Kieran have performed in the last two games, then I think you’ve got a really strong back four.”

That back four will line up again against Luton Town at the weekend, and having steadied the ship with two accomplished away performances, Howe readily accepts it is imperative his players do not now allow their standards to slip back at St James’ Park.

“There was a lot of pride and positive emotions (at Villa Park),” he said. “In previous weeks, there’s been a lot of frustration, and it’s a different kind of feeling when you know you’re not quite where you want to be.

“You know that you can achieve more, and that’s been frustrating. I’m sure that’s been shared by everybody. Against Villa, we were back to being ourselves, but now the challenge is to maintain that, keep it and not let it go, because we know how difficult the Premier League is.”