A BRUTALLY honest Steven Taylor has admitted that this afternoon's trip to Everton will underline just how far Newcastle have fallen this season, as well as providing an insight into how they can make up the lost ground later this year.

Most pundits expected Newcastle to be in Champions League contention going into the final fortnight of the campaign but, instead, it is David Moyes' side that are on the verge of joining the European elite.

While four points from nine would guarantee Everton a top-four finish, the Magpies need a similar haul from their final two games to stand any chance of forcing their way into the top-half of the table.

The Intertoto Cup is the extent of their European ambitions and, at the end of a week that has seen Liverpool and Chelsea fighting it out for a place in the Champions League final, Newcastle's slumping status has been particularly hard to bear.

"It's hard to see Everton in fourth place and pushing for the Champions League," said Taylor, who is likely to continue at left-back this afternoon in the absence of both Celestine Babayaro and Robbie Elliott. "It kills me because that's what we should be doing.

"I rate us as a top-four team - that's where we should be. We are playing Everton and we should be where they are in the table.

"We shouldn't be fighting to get into the Intertoto Cup - we should be booking a place in the Champions League.

"Look at the size of the club - it's massive. Look at the players we have got, but to get into the Intertoto Cup is the best we can hope for now.

"With the players we have here, we can't afford not to be in Europe next season. Not with the squad we have here and the wage bill."

Everton's success has stemmed from a fiercely competitive attitude and a remarkably tight team spirit that has compensated for the loss of the club's two biggest stars, Wayne Rooney and Thomas Gravesen.

Two of Newcastle's leading lights displayed fighting qualities of a rather less welcome nature last month, with Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer disgracing themselves in the latest of a string of sorry sagas to rock Tyneside this season.

On paper, Newcastle possess a better squad than today's opponents. But, unless the Magpies replicate Everton's desire and discipline next season, they will continue to trail in their wake.

"We should have the same spirit and work-rate as Everton," said Taylor. "They haven't got better players than we have.

"They have done well, got their points early on and maintained their good form.

"It's hard to take with us being down where we are but we have to bounce back next season.

"They work harder than we do and that's what we have to improve on. We have to see games out. We do well for 80 minutes but tend to struggle in the last ten - good players focus for the full 90."

Everton's successful season is made even more galling by the presence of three former Newcastle players at Goodison Park.

Alessandro Pistone and Steve Watson have played prominent roles all campaign, but it is striker Duncan Ferguson who has returned from the wilderness to spearhead his side's final push.

The stubborn Scotsman hardly featured in the first half of the season but his two goals in two games against Manchester United and Birmingham could not have been more timely.

Ferguson scored 12 goals in his two-year spell with the Magpies, including an equally emphatic strike against the Red Devils.

That was before Taylor's time, but the 19-year-old defender has seen enough of him to know that he will be given a torrid time this afternoon.

"Duncan Ferguson doesn't change, does he," said the former Monkseaton High School pupil. "It will be a physical game no matter who plays, but these are the kind of challenges I thrive on. I would love to keep him quiet.

"I saw him in training at Chester-le-Street. I have heard from the rest of the lads he was a bit of a character.

"The goal he scored against Manchester United the other week shows exactly what he is capable of. He is fantastic in the air and, if we want to win the game, we will have to cut that out."

The image of a fresh-faced Taylor watching Ferguson train is both a revealing and a recent one.

It underlines just how far the teenager has come during a season in which the performance of Newcastle's youngsters has provided a rare shaft of light.

His first start of the campaign came when Everton drew 1-1 on Tyneside in November and, since then, he has made 19 more appearances under a clearly impressed Graeme Souness.

"I got a game in November against Everton and have never really looked back," he said. "I wasn't a regular at one stage and I wasn't too happy about it, but I ask too much of myself at times because I want to be the best at what I do."

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