Tottenham Hotspur: Victory over Newcastle Keeps Top 4 in Sight for Spurs

Tim Sherwood kept his incredible away record going at Tottenham on Wednesday as his side marched to an easy 4-0 victory over Newcastle United at St James' Park.

Given the Magpies' struggles over the past few weeks, though, it's hard for Spurs supporters to gauge the lopsided result.

After all, since they sold Yohan Cabaye to Paris Saint-Germain with the January transfer window ticking to a close, Newcastle's form has been in a free-fall, as they lost 3-0 to both Sunderland—in a home derby, no less—and Chelsea before Spurs' big win.

In fact, Wednesday's result marked the fourth consecutive home Premier League match in which Newcastle failed to score and their fifth consecutive home loss in all competitions—a mark that spans back to Boxing Day.

However, Tottenham supporters can only be thrilled with the result and where it leaves the club heading into the final few months of the season.

With 12 Premier League matches left on their docket, Spurs sit just three points off of Liverpool in fourth place and seven points off of league leaders Chelsea.

While dreaming of the Lilywhites passing four clubs over this final stretch to seal their first league title in over 50 years would constitute extremely wishful thinking, passing just one of them for a spot in next season's Champions League is still very much in play.

Unfortunately, the schedule of matches has not been kind to Tottenham this season. Amongst these final 12 matches, seven pit the North Londoners against clubs who currently sit either four points from the top or four points from the bottom, with another four against clubs that could conceivably be in the relegation picture by matchday.

These are the sorts of sides that a club would prefer to avoid in their stretch run, as their desperation is a dangerous factor.

What's more, Spurs face off with three of the top four—Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool—within a span of 22 days.

Throw in the distraction of a Europa League campaign and one can quickly see that Tottenham face a tough task over this stretch run.

This makes the result Tottenham was able to get at Newcastle all the more important.

Failing to win over one of the few mid-table sides left on the schedule—or that exist this season—and falling even further behind the top four could have been a catastrophic blow for this side. Further, being able to get such an easy and lopsided win could give this somewhat fragile side the confidence it needs going forward.

It's still going to be a tough road to hoe, but Spurs' hopes of achieving their season's goal of a place in next season's Champions League is not dead just yet.

Only March's slate of matches will tell us if they can pull it off.

In this season that has looked like such a disaster at times, though, it is really quite incredible that Tottenham have any semblance of a shot at the top four.

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