It was lost a little amid Eddie Howe’s illness and the wait to crown Liverpool as champions, but until last weekend Newcastle were one of three teams who could still win the Premier League.
That mathematical quirk has passed, but Champions League qualification has not. Nor has the chance to finish second. A shootout with Arsenal at the Emirates potentially awaits for that prize, five points the difference.
But it was another set of numbers that caught the attention in the wake of Newcastle’s 3-0 win over Ipswich on Saturday. They were offered by Howe and, at first, you thought he was mistaken. After all, he had just admitted he was in need of his bed, this being his first game back after his pneumonia scare.
Newcastle, he stated, had won 20 of their last 26 matches. It caused you to double-take and double-check. He was right. And this from a team we believe to be inconsistent. Indeed, one fan-view piece commissioned by the BBC in February, included the line, ‘inconsistency is our identity this season’.
Howe himself has even gone along with the notion. As recently as the start of this month, the head coach was asked if inconsistency was Newcastle’s ‘Achilles heel’.
‘I can’t argue with that,’ he replied then. ‘That is the big question mark against us and I include myself in that. The big question now is can we be the team that we were against Liverpool (in the Carabao Cup final)? You can’t be there every game but you can still reach a standard and win. We have to find a way to win games when we’re not at our best.’
Until last weekend Newcastle were one of three teams who could still win the Premier League
Eddie Howe returned to the dugout for the Magpies’ 3-0 win over Ipswich that lifted them into third place
The perception of Newcastle’s form tends to stem from the fact that when they lose, they tend to lose badly
Surely, though, the greatest indicator of consistency is the result, not the manner in which it was achieved. The history books do not record aesthetics. What they do record is numbers, and Newcastle’s are remarkable.
Consider this: how many games have Liverpool won from their last 26 in all competitions? Sixteen. Arsenal? Fourteen. In fact, only Liverpool have won more matches than Newcastle in the Premier League this season.
Newcastle’s problem, in terms of perception at least, has been that the defeats punctuating that run were shockers. A 4-1 at home to Bournemouth in January and the same outcome at Aston Villa last weekend have invited scrutiny. When Newcastle lose, they tend to lose bad.
Away defeats at Fulham and Brentford this term, both stained by individual errors and an apparent lack of effort, have led to home truths being aired. The truth is, Newcastle are very good.
When it comes to talk of manager of the year, Howe will be mentioned, but he won’t be crowned. There is a temptation to look in from afar and align Newcastle’s success to Saudi ownership.
That fails to recognise the influence of Howe and his staff, who have not been afforded a first-team player in three transfer windows. In that time, they have lost several. We should not forget, either, that the likes of Fabian Schar, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy, Martin Dubravka, Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff – all of whom have featured prominently this season – were at the club under Mike Ashley.
Should we not also measure great leaders by how the business performs when they’re not there, as opposed to when they are? Howe missed three matches this month and, while the last of those was the loss at Villa, the two victories before extended the team’s winning run to six.
They were also achieved with a 9-1 aggregate score under the guidance of Jason Tindall and Graeme Jones.
That is what Howe has instilled – an elite support network of coaches and a muscle memory in his players that needs not his constant presence. They are stronger with him, yes, but still strong without.
Howe was asked on Saturday if failing to reach the Champions League could render this season unsuccessful. He did not care for the negativity.
‘We’re very much in the middle of trying to achieve it,’ he shot back. ‘I don’t want to go there and think what if we don’t.
‘Let’s just think if we do and be really positive. We’ve got four huge games, four very tough games, and we acknowledge the fact the fixture list is difficult for us. But in the last 26 games, we’ve won 20, and that’s an unbelievable record, so we’ve been consistent. We need to keep that consistency going for four more games.’
Consistency, it turns out, is Newcastle’s identity.
