With only 3 points separating Wigan Athletic in 20th place in the Premier League table to Blackburn Rovers in 13th, the race for survival is still well and truly on and it has left us fans scratching our heads over which three teams will be the ones to suffer the dreaded R word – Relegation. In my article last week on Aston Villa’s relegation threat if they lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers (which they did), the attention has now focused on Newcastle United joining the scrap for survival.
The Magpies were hammered 4-0 at Stoke City last weekend and the manner in which the team conceded the goals with some woeful defending and mistakes by key players must’ve left Alan Pardew wanting to tear his hair out on the touchline. The defeat means that the Toon Army have only won one game in their last 10 and although they currently sit in 11th place, they are just 6 points ahead of Wigan and 4 points from Wolves in 18th place who fill the last relegation spot.
When the club sold striker Andy Carroll on transfer deadline day back in January there were predictions of the club getting relegated as the club had no time to sign a replacement striker or at least spend money on the squad. Newcastle have been hovering around mid-table for most of the season and Carroll still sits 4th in this season’s top goal scorers list with 11 (joint with Kevin Nolan).
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It’s obvious that Newcastle have missed Carroll up front having to rely on the likes of Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best, Nile Ranger and Shola Ameobi. But the Magpies have been without Carroll for longer than when he was sold to Liverpool due to his thigh injury, however Newcastle proved they can win without him with a 1-0 win at Wigan and a 5-0 hammering of West Ham at the start of the year in which Best scored a hat-trick.
Despite the shock defeat away to Stevenage in the FA Cup that followed, the team bounced back once again at home to Arsenal after being 4-0 down at half-time, coming back to draw 4-4 and showing tremendous team spirit in the process. It showed in the next two games with two clean sheets after a 0-0 draw at Blackburn and a 2-0 victory away to Birmingham City.
It’s key to point out that despite their current record of one win in the 10 games, a fair few of them have been draws. However, manager Alan Pardew has admitted that his team are part of the large relegation fight with 8 games of the season remaining and has stressed that his team need to get over the finishing line as quickly as possible.
Their next game is at home to Wolves, a six pointer that Villa found themselves in last weekend but with the international break it will allow Pardew and his team to get rid of any mistakes on the training ground. Out of the 7 other remaining fixtures, Newcastle play four teams below them, which they hope to win if they don’t want to be dragged down the table, with the other three fixtures against Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Whilst we are focusing on Newcastle, let’s not forget that Fulham in 12th on 35 points can’t be overlooked as part of the relegation scrap. Mark Hughes’ men are higher up on the form guide than most teams below them but some back to back defeats over the remaining games could be devastating for whichever team are within reach of the dreaded drop zone.
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