There is no doubt 2025 that will be etched in Newcastle folklore as the club ended their 56-year-wait for a major trophy with League Cup glory. Returning to the Champions League was also a seismic milestone.
There is no doubt 2025 that will be etched in Newcastle folklore as the club ended their 56-year-wait for a major trophy with League Cup glory. Returning to the Champions League was also a seismic milestone.
However, despite these achievements, boss Eddie Howe heads into 2026 despondent at how the year has tailed off for his side.
His 200th match in charge of the Geordies ended in huge disappointment with a frustrating 1-0 loss at Manchester United laying bare his side's struggles on the road.
They have won just one of their nine away league games this season and that 4-1 victory over Everton accounts for a whopping 57% of their top-flight goals scored outside St James' Park.
They had 44 touches in Manchester United's box and put in 46 crosses – both of which were season highs, but just three of their 16 shots were on target as they registered a fifth top-flight blank away from home this season.
Since 19 April, the only ever-present Premier League side with fewer away points than the Magpies' seven is Wolves with four.
"We're finding a way to concede goals when we don't look like we should and we're not scoring the goals that we should at the other end. It's a deadly mix for us," lamented Howe at Old Trafford.
Burnley were also left to rue a lack of a cutting edge in their goalless draw with Everton. They also had 16 shots but not a single one was on target.
The Clarets are the top-flight's joint lowest scorers in home matches this season with rock-bottom Wolves also having notched a mere seven goals in nine games.
They did at least make it two games without defeat, steadying the ship somewhat after their horror run of seven consecutive losses.
But with this match marking the halfway point of the season, Scott Parker knows his side have to turn draws into wins if they are to trim the gap to safety, which currently stands at six points.
Their only victories this season have come against fellow promoted sides Leeds and Sunderland, and struggling Wolves.
The omens for the Clarets are not great given Newcastle's recent record against them.
A Magpies victory would be their eighth in succession against Burnley, which would set a new outright club record for consecutive victories versus an opponent in the top flight, surpassing the seven they had also won in a row against Bury between 1903 and 1906.
Also, Howe has won each of his past two away league matches against Burnley, who he managed between January 2011 and October 2012. He could become the first former Clarets boss to win three matches in a row at Turf Moor.
Category: General Sports
