... Newcastle's UEFA Cup opponents AZ Alkmaar are ready to break the mould and that can be a bit worrying for our clash on Thursday.
At the weekend AZ kept their slim title aspirations alive after beating mid-table outfit FC Utrecht for the second time in five days.
Goals by Maarten Martens, Shota Arveladze, substitute Moussa Dembele and Danny Koevermans secured a comfortable win for AZ, who piled more misery on the home side following their 2-1 win in the KNVB Cup last week.
Dutch Put The Heat On Newcastle
Report from Sportinglife:
Utrecht started strongest at the Nieuwe Galgenwaard and Loic Loval missed a glorious chance to break the deadlock in the seventh minute when he headed straight at AZ goalkeeper Boy Waterman following Tom Caluwe's free-kick.
Utrecht started strongest at the Nieuwe Galgenwaard and Loic Loval missed a glorious chance to break the deadlock in the seventh minute when he headed straight at AZ goalkeeper Boy Waterman following Tom Caluwe's free-kick.
The home side continued to push forward and Ali Boussaboun's long-range shot needed to be tipped around for a corner by Waterman soon after.
But against the run of play, AZ took the lead in the 19th minute when Martens superbly curled home from the edge of the penalty area after a teasing solo run.
And the away side doubled their advantage just three minutes later when former Rangers striker Arveladze tapped in from close range after the lively Martens' drive had been parried by Utrecht goalkeeper Michel Vorm.
Utrecht pushed forward and they almost reduced the deficit just after the half-hour mark when Waterman tipped Joost Broerse's free-kick around for a corner.
The home side started strongest after the interval and they missed another opportunity when Eric Pieters fired wide following his clever one-two with Robin Nelisse.
And they were punished for their profligacy in the 68th minute when Dembele slotted home with his first touch of the ball since replacing Arveladze.
Martens played a superb ball in from the left flank and Dembele made no mistake with a cool finish into the bottom right corner of the net from close range.
And the away side completed the rout in the 86th minute when Koevermans slotted home from the centre of the penalty area following Martens' cross.
UEFA CUP DRAW
THURSDAY MARCH 8th
Fourth Round 1st leg
Braga v Tottenham 19.45
Celta Vigo v Werder Bremen 19.45
Lens v Bayer Leverkusen 19.45
Maccabi Haifa v Espanyol 19.45
Newcastle v AZ 19.45
PSG v Benfica 19.45
Rangers v Osasuna 19.45
Sevilla v Shakhtar Donetsk 19.45