Might have been a premonition, at least inspiration – Eddie Howe and Premier League Big Six


 
 
 
 
 
 

Om Wednesday, I wrote about Eddie Howe and the Premier League Big Six.

Specifically, Newcastle United matches at St James’ Park against those half dozen self-appointed elite.

The question I was posing (and answering), was how have Eddie Howe and Newcastle United fared at home against the Premier League Big Six, in all competitions?

This prompted by the fact that just ahead of Eddie’s third anniversary (8 November 2024) since arriving at St James’ Park, NUFC were set to face Chelsea in the League Cup on Wednesday night, then Arsenal on Saturday afternoon.

Fair to say that ahead of Wednesday night the mood could have been better, with the only win in the last six NUFC matches having been the one against League Two AFC Wimbledon. However, were the Newcastle United fans predicting no chance of success in these two matches against Premier League Big Six clubs, actually on the money?

These are the updated stats now after last night’s win over Chelsea…

Since Eddie Howe took over on 8 November 2021, Newcastle United have played 20 matches (all competitions) at St James’ Park against the Premier League Big Six clubs, these have been the results:

Newcastle v Man City – Played 5 Won 1 Drawn 2 Lost 2

Newcastle v Man U – Played 3 Won 2 Drawn 1 Lost 0

Newcastle v Liverpool – Played 3 Won 0 Drawn 0 Lost 3

Newcastle v Tottenham – Played 3 Won 3 Drawn 0 Lost 0

Newcastle v Chelsea – Played 3 Won 3 Drawn 0 Lost 0

Newcastle v Arsenal – Played 3 Won 2 Drawn 0 Lost 1

Newcastle v Premier League Big Six – Played 20 Won 11 Drawn 3 Lost 6

Conclusions?

If you take out the results against bogey side Liverpool it becomes played 17, with 11 wins and only three defeats.

Whilst if you only take the results against Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, you get played 12 and won ten, one draw and just the one defeat!

At home against Arsenal and Chelsea, the Eddie Howe Newcastle United record now stands at five wins and one defeat at St James’ Park, ahead of facing the Gunners on Saturday.

Victory last night made it three out of three against Chelsea at home for Eddie Howe.

Nobody was pretending this week’s two Newcastle United matches would be easy at St James’ Park, however, plenty of positives could be taken from these last three years overall under Eddie Howe, especially now we can add that latest home win last night against a ‘Big Six’ club.

Indeed, that cruel 1-0 defeat to Brighton in Newcastle’s last Premier League home game, was the first St James’ Park defeat against anybody for over nine months.

If the players and fans are up for it against Arsenal, as much as they were against Chelsea last night, no reason why Newcastle United can’t get another positive home result against the Gunners, to make Arteta and the Arsenal fans cry once against about the sheer injustice!