Newcastle’s London record boosts their relegation value
Published:A Liverpool team sans Luis Suarez demolished Newcastle at the weekend, plunging the Toon’s Premier League future into serious doubt.
As it stands, Alan Pardew’s men can be backed at 10/1 to be relegated to the Championship, despite sitting just five points clear of Wigan, who have played a game fewer in the race to beat the drop.
What really makes this an attractive prospect is the hapless nature of the Geordies’ defending against a team lacking their main offensive weapon. From Newcastle’s perspective, how much more severe the situation would have been were Liverpool able to call upon their Uruguayan talisman doesn’t bear thinking about.
A significant improvement is needed in the final three games if the Magpies are to fend off the advances of Wigan, though some tough games await.
Trips to West Ham and QPR are to come ahead of Arsenal’s visit on the final day.
Trying to put a positive spin on their survival hopes, neither the Hammers nor the Rs have anything of note to play for, so may prove beatable if Newcastle can play with sufficient character, while they haven’t fared too badly in recent home games with the Gunners either.
However, it’s fair to say Liverpool had nothing on the line ahead of their trip to St James’ and it didn’t stop them running riot. Similarly, if Arsenal are in the thick of the Champions League scrap, which is destined to go to the wire, they’re not going to be going lightly in the north east.
Another worrying aspect for the Toon Army is that they have a particularly shocking record when travelling to the capital.
Overall, they’ve lost five of the nine fixtures they’ve fulfilled against London outfits this season, though every away day against opposition of this criterion has ended in defeat.
They cannot afford for this record to continue as losses at West Ham and QPR would leave them in the hottest of waters prior Arsenal’s visit to conclude the campaign, which will see these lofty odds drastically shorten.
All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date
