please log in to view this image Norwich City (a) please log in to view this image Southampton (a) please log in to view this image Swansea City (h) please log in to view this image Manchester City (h) please log in to view this image Liverpool (a) please log in to view this image Crystal Palace (h) please log in to view this image Aston Villa (a) please log in to view this image Spurs (h) So here are our remaining fixtures in case you haven't studied them..... There's a lot can happen directly and indirectly to affect the battle to avoid the drop. Man City may be looking at a CL Semi Final when we play them....Liverpool may be pushing for Europe still... or will they be out of the running with one eye on the beach.... Palace may still have Pardew as manager (please god), Villa may have a battling Nigel Pearson in place and play with no fear. It may even come down to the end of the season and the last match where Spurs need to win to take the PL crown and we need to win to avoid the drop. So I'm getting my chicken bones out and praying to the Norse gods that: - Norwich are still in fear on our Gini in the bottle after the last hammering and cave in - Southampton players, whilst not looking to Europe have one eye on the beach. - Swansea are safe and turn up just to make up the numbers. - City are focussed on Europe and play their D team. - Liverpool have a rare off day. - Palace keep Pardew in employment and we put them to the sword - Villa are down and out and Pearson plays the reserves to assess his squad for next year - Spurs are out of the title race and have already secured 2nd or 3rd so effectively have nothing else to play for. It's a big wish list but hey, we can dream can't we?
Saints will be well up for this one. We still have euro ambitions. But a couple other fixtures may well pan out better like Swansea & City. One thing is for sure, you can't rely on others, Newcastle have to get the points to drag themselves out of the bottom three.
And here lies the issue for me mate. Even with the Rafa effect, I'm not sure our players are up for the fight to be honest.
This is the crux of the matter at Newcastle - I can't stand Pardew and Carver, but those two and SM and now RB have unfortunately a brittle and spineless set of players with no heart or passion touched with a sense that they are better than they are with a pinch of sulkiness to boot
you've got to look at the people who brought this type of player in Charnley and Carr are the only two that have stayed the exectioner while others have fallen
