If somebody is lecturing you that Newcastle United are going to fall away – Just show them this

Newcastle United fans are loving the transformation.

Their football club only 16 months ago an absolute shambles.

Moving forward to January 2023 and whilst an awful lot of work still to do, a now ambitious Newcastle United are well on their way to becoming a real force.

An amusing injury time free-kick saw Manchester United only draw on Wednesday night at Selhurst Park, that point enough though to take Ten Hag and his team a point above Newcastle United in this updated Premier League table:

As you can see, as we all know, Newcastle United reaching the halfway point in really good shape.

Despite this, there are plenty of people queuing up, not just those who live in Sunderland, to tell us that it is only a matter of time before Newcastle United fall away.

I am not saying Eddie Howe and the players will definitely stay top four, BUT what I would say, is that there are plenty of reasons to support the idea that they could / will stay up there.

If somebody is lecturing you about how Newcastle United are supposedly sure to fall away, just show them this.

I have looked at the last full year / season’s results for all the Premier League clubs currently in the top half.

What has happened in their last 38 Premier League matches, some have played 19 this season and so their final 19 of last season added. Others have have played 18 so far this season, so it is their final 20 PL matches of 2021/22 that are included.

Fulham are the only top half club I haven’t included in this, as they were in the Championship last season and pretty pointless comparing second tier results, though for sure they are doing very well this season.

So starting at the top of the current Premier League table and working down, here we go with the last 38 Premier League matches form for each club:

Arsenal

2021/22 Played 20 Won 12 Drawn 1 Lost 7 Points 37

2022/23 Played 18 Won 15 Drawn 2 Lost 1 Points 47

Total Played 38 Won 27 Drawn 3 Lost 8 Points 84

Man City

2021/22 Played 20 Won 15 Drawn 4 Lost 1 Points 49

2022/23 Played 18 Won 12 Drawn 3 Lost 3 Points 39

Total Played 38 Won 27 Drawn 7 Lost 4 Points 88

Man Utd

2021/22 Played 19 Won 7 Drawn 6 Lost 6 Points 27

2022/23 Played 19 Won 12 Drawn 3 Lost 4 Points 39

Total Played 38 Won 19 Drawn 9 Lost 10 Points 66

Newcastle United

2021/22 Played 19 Won 12 Drawn 2 Lost 5 Points 38

2022/23 Played 19 Won 10 Drawn 8 Lost 1 Points 38

Total Played 38 Won 22 Drawn 10 Lost 6 Points 76

Tottenham

2021/22 Played 19 Won 11 Drawn 2 Lost 6 Points 35

2022/23 Played 19 Won 10 Drawn 3 Lost 6 Points 33

Total Played 38 Won 21 Drawn 5 Lost 12 Points 68

Brighton

2021/22 Played 20 Won 7 Drawn 6 Lost 7 Points 27

2022/23 Played 18 Won 9 Drawn 3 Lost 6 Points 30

Total Played 38 Won 16 Drawn 9 Lost 13 Points 57

Brentford

2021/22 Played 19 Won 7 Drawn 2 Lost 10 Points 23

2022/23 Played 19 Won 7 Drawn 8 Lost 4 Points 29

Total Played 38 Won 14 Drawn 10 Lost 14 Points 52

Liverpool

2021/22 Played 20 Won 16 Drawn 3 Lost 1 Points 49

2022/23 Played 18 Won 8 Drawn 4 Lost 6 Points 28

Total Played 38 Won 24 Drawn 7 Lost 7 Points 79

Chelsea

2021/22 Played 19 Won 9 Drawn 6 Lost 4 Points 33

2022/23 Played 19 Won 8 Drawn 4 Lost 7 Points 28

Total Played 38 Won 17 Drawn 10 Lost 11 Points 61

Premier League table for the last year (a full season of the last 38 matches each)  with points totals of:

88 Man City

84 Arsenal

79 Liverpool

76 Newcastle United

68 Tottenham

66 Man Utd

61 Chelsea

57 Brighton

52 Brentford

Conclusions

Ironically, for those who are trying to say this is sure to be a shorter-term thing for Newcastle United and NUFC are bound to fall away / apart. Eddie Howe’s side are the only ones to have picked up exactly the same number of points in the two half seasons, 38 points from the final 19 games of last season, then 38 from the opening 19 this time.

Talk about consistency…

Only Man City (4) have lost less games than Newcastle United (6) in their last 38. Compare that to the likes of Man Utd (10), Chelsea (11) and Tottenham (12)

When it comes to winning matches, Newcastle have won 22 of their last 38, only Arsenal (27), Man City (27) and Liverpool (24) having won more.

Picking up points in their last 38 PL matches, Eddie Howe’s team with 76 points, which is 8 more than Tottenham, 10 more than Man Utd and 15(!) more than Chelsea.

Newcastle United still need to build a full-on squad but with Eddie Howe they have made an outstanding start, both with signings and especially Eddie resurrecting the likes of Schar, Joelinton and Almiron, amongst others.

This is a Newcastle United that is being built on solid foundations, on and off the pitch.