It depends which version of Newcastle United turns up…

Earlier today I read a comment which declared: “It depends which version of Newcastle United turns up”,  concerning our forthcoming match against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

This being in response to Joe Dixon’s article highlighting the fatigue that is catching up with Oliver Glasner’s side after their recent poor run of form has seen them drop from a Champions League berth in the middle of last month, to tenth in the table this Friday morning, just one point ahead of Newcastle United.

That got me thinking.

Whilst the Newcastle United away form has been questionable, with only two wins in the Premier League all season, a cursory glance at the ‘away table’ still shows Newcastle United as being reasonably competitive, eleventh (when it comes to away form) at the halfway mark.

However, it is the upcoming run of home games that has my particular attention and where I think Eddie Howe has a fantastic opportunity to define in a positive manner what remains of the season.

Between this Sunday 4 January and Sunday 25 January, a period of just three weeks, Newcastle United has seven games, six of which will be at St James’ Park. Three of these six home matches in the Premier League, one in the FA Cup and one in the Champions League, whilst the other is the small matter of the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Manchester City on the evening of 13 January.

If our away form has been somewhat below par this season, our home form has been very good, ten wins from fifteen in all competitions, with only three defeats, all of them coming during the first month of the new season.

Looking more closely at those losses, the league defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal came very late.

Against Liverpool, the ten men of Newcastle United had grabbed a foothold in the game by coming from two goals down only to cruelly concede in the 110th minute, whilst against Arsenal, it was a case of conceding an 84th minute equaliser before a 96th minute header from Gabriel denied United from sharing the spoils.

The other home defeat was against a very accomplished Barcelona side in the Champions League, the Spanish Champions hanging onto their lead after United’s late flourish, Anthony Gordon’s 90th minute strike proving too little too late.

In all three of the games where we’ve left St James’ Park feeling deflated because we’d got nothing, it’s fair to say we weren’t outclassed in any of them, small margins deciding those games and if I’m being truly objective, it was perhaps only the Arsenal game where losing was a fair reflection, it was the manner of conceding so late in the game that rankled so much.

Fact is as well, the last ten matches at St James’ Park, have seen eight Newcastle United wins, two draws and zero defeats.

Coming back to this Sunday, it’ll be a bitterly cold afternoon, a one in which I’m guessing the Palace players won’t be relishing and if Newcastle United can get in front early, I can see us romping to victory, continuing our impressive run of home form that’s seen us unbeaten in our last ten outings, and setting us up nicely for what lies ahead this next few weeks.