The situation on Monday that faces Newcastle United after tough weekend | OneFootball

Things could have gone better for Newcastle United this weekend.

A big weekend of Premier League matches involving those fighting for the Champions League qualifying places.

The early Saturday afternoon match was Forest v Man City, where arguably it was a 50/50 choice whether a draw or Man City winning was the best result for Newcastle United.

A poor game of few real chances looking to be heading for a goalless draw, which would have been ok for NUFC.

However, an 83rd minute goal from Callum Hudson-Odoi won the game for Forest and sends them seven points clear of Newcastle United. For me it will be difficult for United to finish above Man City in the table, though Newcastle will go level on points with Pep Guardiola’s side if winning at West Ham.

In the Saturday 3pm kick-offs, it would have been better if relegation threatened Ipswich had got something at Selhurst Park.

That game looked destined as well for 0-0, until Sarr scored to win it for Palace on 82 minutes. I don’t think Palace will compete for the Champions League places but they are climbing the table and are now only five points behind Newcastle United.

Along with the Forest result, I think the Amex Stadium outcome was the joint worst on Saturday.

A draw would have been ideal as that would have kept Brighton and Fulham both still below Newcastle United.

It was 1-1 heading into added time and in the eighth minute of the added time, Brighton scored with a penalty to win it and go two points above United. Brighton getting late season momentum and the only positive is that Fulham remain two points below Newcastle.

An interesting one at Anfield, as rock bottom Southampton led at the break.

However, two goals early in the second half turned it around for Liverpool. Interesting though that Arne Slot played a strong team and was forded to keep the likes of Salah and Van Dijk on until the very end, as the scousers only scored a third with 88 minutes on the clock, Alexander-Arnold only subbed off late on. This follows Wednesday when Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold played the full match and Salah only subbed off late on. With a huge game against PSG on Tuesday when Arne Slot is sure to play his very strongest team, it is a lot of football for Liverpool’s best players to be playing ahead of the Carabao Cup Final.

Another result going against NUFC, as Brentford lost 1-0 at home to Villa in the 5.30pm kick-off. An Ollie Watkins goal early in the second half means that Villa go a goal above Newcastle, although Emery’s side have now played two games more than NUFC. The Saturday night match was a low quality affair, a 1-1 draw between bottom six clubs Wolves and Everton.

Two matches at 2pm on Sunday that saw Champions League contenders playing.

Chelsea lucky to win a scrappy home match against second bottom Leicester. Cole Palmer saw a penalty saved and Cucurella scored the only goal of the game on 60 minutes, that means Chelsea go five points clear of Newcastle.

The only decent news of the weekend was delivered by Spurs. Bournemouth went 2-0 up but the home side scored on 67 and 84 minutes to rescue a draw and the Cherries only moving level on points with Newcastle, not two points clear.

The final match on Sunday was one of those where Arsenal dominated Man U but played football with so little real threat, Merino as a false nine. Man U fluked a half-time lead and Rice finally found a 74th minute equaliser. However, what this fixture simply confirmed was that there is Liverpool 15 points clear and those fighting for Champions League places much of a muchness. At least some of those below Arsenal will be thinking now it isn’t impossible to overtake them.

This is how the table looks on Monday morning (10 March 2025) with nine Premier League fixtures played so far in this round of matches: