Newcastle just can’t afford to slip up on the home straight
HERE we go then, the final 10 games of what has been a challenging season for Newcastle United. While the chance of silverware has gone for another year, the race for a European place is very much on.
It may feel somewhat anti-climatic after last season’s heroics, but emulating those achievements with the injuries Eddie Howe and co have been dealt this time around was always going to be a nigh-on impossible task.
It was only a few short years ago that we would be checking the fixture lists of sides battling to stay in the Premier League to assess United’s chances of avoiding relegation, so while the Champions League is probably out of reach for 2024, we need not be too downhearted by an opportunity to qualify for Europe.
That said, it’s a challenge this Newcastle squad must rise to. Yes, they’ve have been handed a rough deal on many fronts this season, not least an injury list that would diminish any side. Yes, time and again they have been handed difficult cup draws, which has made winning a trophy that much harder.
But they have the opportunity to now seize the initiative with a run of eminently winnable games that can’t be passed over.
It’s been hard to gauge United’s form in 2024. They have had impressive away wins, notably at Aston Villa, they ran Manchester City ever so close in that 3-2 St James’ Park defeat and they’ve beaten Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Fulham.
Contrast that with disappointing displays against Arsenal, Chelsea, Blackburn and Bournemouth and it paints an accurate picture of why the Magpies are mid-table.
Even the 4-4 draw with Luton showcased everything which is good and bad about the side right now. Some free-flowing attacking play, some abject defending, and a gritty determination to fight back when all seemed lost.
The time has come to deliver, and they have the ideal opportunity with three home games in their next four fixtures.
West Ham and Everton arrive on Tyneside in the coming week as poor travellers while Tottenham come to St James’ Park a little under a year since that 6-1 thrashing. Spurs are a different side under Ange Postecoglou, of course, but those memories still linger.
Even the 4-4 draw with Luton showcased everything which is good and bad about the side right now
Of the rest, the main challenges appear to lie in the yet-to-be-rearranged trip to Old Trafford, Brentford away and Brighton at home.
That’s not the say the rest are in the bag, but any side looking to secure European football needs to beat the likes of Sheffield United, Burnley and Crystal Palace. That’s where Newcastle have fallen down this season. They’ve dropped five points to Bournemouth, another five to Luton, lost to Forest at home and that defeat at Everton is best forgotten.
It’s those type of games which they can’t afford to slip up in now.