Now who would have suggested that with Newcastle United at the start of the season?

Every week I look at the Premier League table at least once, especially when those teams with the temerity to be higher than Newcastle United draw or lose.

The victory against Crystal Palace lifted us into the top half of the table . . . but how much further can we climb?

This seems to be a funny old season.

After 20 rounds of matches, only three clubs have won more than half their games: Arsenal, Man City and Villa. The Woolwich are on 48 points, their two closest rivals on 42.

For now, let’s agree they will finish first, second and third. Not that Arteta the Nearly Man will lift the title, in my opinion. Even Lucky Arsenal cannot rely on own goals rescuing them for the next four months.

There is then an eight-point gap to Liverpool, who have 10 wins.

The Red Scousers are three points clear of fifth-placed Chelsea. Yes, the same west London chancers we absolutely played off St James’ Park in the first half a few weeks ago.

Statistics apart, Chelsea don’t look great. They are less a team, more a bunch of ever-changing footballers of questionable temperament who come and go almost as quickly as their coaches. On the players’ tops is a badge proclaiming they are Fifa Club World Cup champions. That don’t impress me much, as Shania Twain sang nearly 30 years ago, long before Stamford Bridge was transformed by dodgy Russian billions.

This is not an attack on Chelsea. They are merely one of six or seven teams realistically competing to end the season in fourth or fifth place and thus qualify for next season’s inflated Champions League via their domestic campaign.

English clubs will most probably “earn” five berths thanks to the Uefa coefficients that seem designed primarily to make the most lucrative league even richer. If the Champions League final is won by Spurs, make that six, because they are extremely unlikely to finish in the top five of the Premier League. If the Europa League title held by Spurs is won by Nottingham Forest, could there be a less-than-magnificent seven?

That’s all a bit fanciful. Unlikely but not impossible. Twelve months ago, who would have backed PSG to become Uefa Champions League winners after they lost three of eight games in the Swiss-league phase? Stranger things . . .

The Mags have two chances to qualify for next season’s tournament. Finishing the domestic campaign in the top five will almost certainly be enough. Or we could eliminate any doubt by doing a PSG, starting slowly in the continent’s primary competition, gaining momentum after Christmas and defeating all challengers on the way to a glorious triumph.

Back to the more realistic prospect. With 18 matches remaining, we are only two points behind the aforementioned Chelsea. We are only five behind Liverpool. In the home games against those two this season, we gained precisely one point but were the better team on the day against both.

What you deserve to take from any match is irrelevant; what counts is simply the final score. The performances do, however, suggest we are capable of going to Stamford Bridge and to Anfield with plenty of reasons to believe.

Liverpool are enduring a spectacularly iffy Second Season Syndrome under their Dutch coach. The defensive failings that United exposed at Wembley have become more apparent, week after week, while the reshaped midfield and attack are not running like the silky smooth Slot Machine of 2024-25.

Remarkably, considering the turmoil on and off the pitch, the Salfords have accumulated 31 points, the same as Chelsea. Perhaps management chaos is the way to go. Little else can explain their relatively lofty positions. Not that the respective owners considered it good enough to retain Ruben Amorim or Enzo Maresca!

Who’s next to be summarily dismissed as no better than Newcastle when I survey the table? I honestly believe we can overhaul Liverpool, Chelsea and the Salfords. Our team’s performances and thus results have more potential for improvement than any of those three.

Two other teams are ahead of us in the race for fourth place, each with 30 points to our 29. Brentford have done remarkably well to win nine games after selling three of their best players: Mbeumo, Wissa and Norgaard. My feeling is they will run out of steam. Long throws can go a long way, especially when the hurler is on the pitch when he releases the ball, but they don’t count for everything.

Much as it’s painful to write, the Mackems are also on 30. A team heavy on loanees and teenagers that scraped into the Premier League last May had to be rebuilt in double-quick time. There’s clearly an efficient manager and decent scouting network involved, which, combined with an, ahem, robust approach that put Newcastle United to shame at the Stadium of Light, has all-but secured survival in the top flight for a second season. Remember, a few short months ago almost every so-called expert, including the bookies, reckoned they were certain to be relegated. To make a £40 profit on that bet, you would have had to gamble £160.

Yes, they were odds-on, generally 1/4, to go straight back whence they came. Once that common prediction looked under threat, the pundits said: “Oh, wait until their batch of recent signings go to the Afcon. Then they will drop like a stone.” I’m still waiting.

Something else has changed in the Premier League this season. Step forward, Howard Webb, head of the PGMOL. Without trawling through an ocean of match reports, I have a hunch there have been far fewer interventions by the VAR officials in the past five months than there were at the same stage in 2024-25.

The men in the middle, having relied increasingly on the safety net provided by the men at Stockley Park, are now sent to the pitchside screen for only the most blatant errors. Sometimes not even for those. When the ref gets it wrong, it often stays wrong. The term “referee’s call” is now quoted as justification for the sort of mistakes that a few years ago led to the deafening outcry for VAR. An incident prompting a red card or penalty last season is judged a legitimate tackle this time around.

Players unable to match opponents in skill, teamwork and application are relying on cynical fouls and dangerous tackles to get their way. The last time I checked, a goalkeeper was unable to be challenged if his feet were off the ground. That rule was introduced a long time ago to prevent violent attacks that could injure the custodian when he was at his most vulnerable, with eyes fixed on the ball, unable to defend himself. A centre-forward called Ted MacDougall specialised in such assaults in the early Seventies. My memory bank doesn’t start much earlier but even then he was considered a throw-back to a more violent age when the goalie was treated as fair game by a rampaging opponent.

There are many other examples of referees “letting the game flow” in England. I wonder if he who pays the piper is calling the tune here. The Premier League is a worldwide moneyspinner partly because it is refereed differently from La Liga, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1. Broadcasters, who pay a fortune to beam the action from Brisbane to Benidorm and back, would be unhappy if served less exciting fare. A stricter approach might endanger this universal appeal, even though, simultaneously, individual talent would have more of a chance to flourish.

Perhaps that was the point Big Dan Burn was making a few weeks ago with regard to Newcastle’s play, just before he reluctantly left the field with broken ribs and a punctured lung.

The so-called overly physical League Cup champions are probably guilty of failing to “read the room” and realise the atmosphere has changed.

Now who would have suggested that with Newcastle United at the start of the season?

Back to the here and now. We are ninth in the Premier League. We have let a few points slip away, at home and on our travels. We are capable of doing better.

I believe we will. Better enough to overhaul the five teams within touching distance? Yes, we are.