And a penalty shoot-out success at Nottingham Forest means they're in the third round of the Carabao Cup too - but there's always room for improvement and Eddie Howe's side continued to put in the work on the training pitch on Friday.

Many of the Magpies' squad are representing their countries, but the likes of Joelinton, Harvey Barnes, Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy remained on Tyneside while Kieran Trippier and Fabian Schär both recently announced their respective retirements from international football.

The sun was shining at United's Benton base as Serena Taylor brought newcastleunited.com this gallery.