Toon aiming to take rare treble chance
THREE WINS IN A ROW ON HORIZON AS POTTERS HEAD TO ST JAMES’
NEWCASTLE United welcome Stoke City to St James’ Park on Saturday looking to record their third victory on the bounce for the first time in the Premier League since the 2014-15 campaign.
Rafa Benitez sat out the 1-0 win at Swansea after recovering from a short illness but watched from home as his players battled to a hardfought victory.
That was the first consecutive double in the Premier League since December 2015, when Steve McClaren guided United to surprising wins against Liverpool and Tottenham.
Georginio Wijnaldum scored in the last minute at St James’ Park to guide the Magpies to a 2-0 victory over Liverpool on December 6. The Dutchman would go on to join the Reds the following summer.
A few days later, on December 13, Ayoze Perez scored at the death to record a shock 2-1 win at White Hart Lane; Aleksandar Mitrovic had got the other Magpies goal.
Yet the last time United recorded three straight victories in the top flight was back in November 2014.
Alan Pardew had started the season particularly badly, gaining only four points from a possible 21 before going on a five-game winning streak between October 18 and November 22.
The Magpies beat Leicester and Spurs before recording the third win on the bounce against Liverpool on November 1. They then went on to record wins against West Brom and QPR – conceding just one goal in those five games. The run of games against Liverpool and West Brom was the last time the club kept two consecutive clean sheets in the top flight before this season, although they also shut up shop against QPR in 2014. Pardew, however, would only go on to win two more games as Newcastle boss before leaving for Crystal Palace at the turn of the year. Benitez guided the Magpies to a five-game winning streak early last season after losing the first two games of the league campaign – as they did this season. Benitez went on to record three consecutive victories – or more – a further three times last season. An eight-game winning streak between September and November was followed by three consecutive victories between December 10 and December 17. Newcastle also recorded three consecutive victories between April 24 and May 7, on the way to lifting the Championship title on the final day.