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By John May BBC Sport Online at St James' Park

Newcastle's Alan Shearer
Shearer was close to his 100th Newcastle goal
Alan Shearer sees no reason why Newcastle should suffer Premiership hangovers as long as the Champions League continues to provide a tonic.

The former England captain led from the front as Newcastle came from a goal behind to beat Southampton 2-1 on Saturday.

In doing so, Shearer and Newcastle allayed the fears of manager Bobby Robson that the Magpies might be brought down to earth after their midweek high in Rotterdam.

Shearer said: "A lot of people thought we might come a cropper but I don't think we have lost a Premiership game after a Champions League game."

Match report: Newcastle 2-1 Southampton

While Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has moaned about playing schedules and workloads, Shearer, as ever, revels in the challenges that are thrown at him.

"Last season when I sat at home and watched Manchester United and Arsenal in the Champions League, you don't realise how hard it is," he said.

The atmosphere is going to be tremendous for our home game against Inter

Alan Shearer

"It's not so much playing the 90 minutes in midweek, it's the travelling beforehand and afterwards, and the disruption to your normal patterns, more than anything.

"It took us 20 minutes to get going, but I could have told you that would happen before the game.

"We came back from a goal down, and we keep chiselling out these results.

"This was a big win for us, and again we showed a lot of character, just as we did in Rotterdam.

"But this is the type of football you want to be involved in as a player.

"This is what I came back to my hometown club for," said Shearer, who is licking his lips at the prospect of testing himself against Inter Milan and Barcelona in the Champions League second phase.

Robson praises energetic Magpies

"We saw the draw, we realised we are among the big boys and the atmosphere is going to be tremendous for our home game against Inter," he added.

Alan Shearer takes on Feyenoord's Tomasz Rzasa
Shearer is revelling in Champions League action

There are still those who say Shearer gave up playing for his country too early.

And his recent displays for Newcastle back the view that the twilight of his career remains a long way off.

On Saturday, he was denied his 100th goal for the club only by a goal-line clearance from Matthew Oakley.

"I'm in a decent side with a lot of young legs around me who do all my running for me," Shearer said, playing down his own contribution as always.

"We have so many young players who want to attack, sometimes I have to try and rein them in."

Watch a round up of the Weekend's Premiership action