ALAN SHEARER fears Newcastle United's season of surprise in the Premier League could be spoiled by Chelsea's own remarkable performance in Europe.

Shearer was impressed along with the rest of the country by Chelsea's incredible performance at Camp Nou on Tuesday night when they managed to claim a place in the Champions league final at the expense of Barcelona.

The victory has set up a final date in Munich next month when a triumph in Germany would mean they would qualify for the competition again next season regardless of who finishes fourth in the Premier League.

At this stage Newcastle sit three points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham, four ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea and have three points to make up on Arsenal if they want to finish third.

Shearer has been surprised by Newcastle's re-emergence as a contender for European football this season, but is excited by the prospect of a fight for the Champions League places in the final four matches.

The Magpies' record goalscorer, fearing Newcastle may have to settle for a place in the Europa League instead, said: "It's amazing what Newcastle have done. I hope I am wrong but it would be just Newcastle's luck to finish fourth and Chelsea go and win the Champions League.

"I obviously want Newcastle to finish fourth but I would also like Chelsea to go on and win the Champions League after the season they have had - not if it's at Newcastle's expense of qualifying for the Champions League mind! It's a tough scenario."

Newcastle's well-timed run of form to climb back in to the top four has coincided with the Papiss Cisse's exceptional record in from of goal.

As well as scoring 11 goals in his first ten appearances for Newcastle, he has also scored in his last six consecutive games, amassing nine goals in that period.

Shearer, whose own impressive goalscoring start at Newcastle did not even amount to that, is just hoping the Senegalese striker continues to power his beloved club towards a top four finish.

"It's worked out well for Papiss Cisse since he arrived," said Shearer. "Demba Ba has stopped scoring goals and has done an incredible job for the team, so Cisse has come in and started to score the goals, which was needed.

"He has taken that on from where Ba left off. I hope Newcastle can finish the season off in style with Cisse scoring goals and getting them up to fourth."

For that to happen, manager Alan Pardew could do with the run continuing at Wigan on Saturday.

Newcastle have sold their allocation of 4,500 tickets for the game at the DW Stadium and Wigan are urging fans without tickets to stay-away.

The Latics' stance follows Pardew's claims that he hoped Newcastle would get some more as 'they (Wigan) could probably do with the money'.

But amid fears Newcastle fans will attempt to buy tickets in the home end, Wigan's chief executive Jonathan Jackson said: "The crowd will be a near sell out if sales carry on at the present rate and to suggest that any more tickets could be available, or that ticketless fans should travel, is both wrong and potentially dangerous.

"We strongly urge fans without tickets not to travel because they will not be able to purchase tickets and therefore not gain entry to the ground.

"We have contacted Newcastle over the issue and have urged them to put out a similar message via their official communication channels."

Pardew is likely to have Gabriel Obertan back in contention for the trip to Wigan after recovering from a knock sustained five weeks ago. Fellow Frenchman Sylvain Marveaux is could also make a return to action before the end of the season after making significant progress from the hip problem which has ruled him out since November.