Strange tale of Eddie Howe, St James’ Park and those who ignore the reality
Eddie Howe and St James’ Park.
A lovely combination.
A strange tale of Eddie Howe, St James’ Park and those who ignore the reality.
Maybe best summed up by the Sky Sports expert ‘Jones Knows’ (Lewis Jones), who previews every Newcastle United Premier League match, as he does for all the top tier clubs.
Against Tottenham on 1 September 2024, the Sky Sports expert predicted an easy 3-1 away victory for Spurs at St James’ Park.
Then 27 days later, he was at it again, forecasting another easy 3-1 away win at St James’ Park, this time for Manchester City.
You would think that as somebody who always relies on quoting stats and formlines, the man from Sky Sports would have picked up on this by now…
The Eddie Howe Newcastle United home record at St James’ Park in the Premier League since he arrived in November 2021:
2021/22 NUFC Premier League matches with Eddie Howe in charge:
Played 14 Won 8 Drawn 4 Lost 2 Goals Scored 19 Goals Conceded 14 Average 2.00 points per game
2022/23 NUFC Premier League matches with Eddie Howe in charge:
Played 19 Won 11 Drawn 6 Lost 2 Goals Scored 36 Goals Conceded 14 Average 2.06 points per game
2023/24 NUFC Premier League matches with Eddie Howe in charge:
Played 19 Won 12 Drawn 4 Lost 3 Goals Scored 49 Goals Conceded 22 Average 2.11 points per game
2024/25 NUFC Premier League matches with Eddie Howe in charge:
Played 3 Won 2 Drawn 1 Lost 0 Goals Scored 4 Goals Conceded 2 Average 2.33 points per game
Eddie Howe entire NUFC Premier League record at St James’ Park:
Played 55 Won 33 Drawn 15 Lost 7 Goals Scored 108 Goals Conceded 52 Average 2.07 points per game
The Newcastle United Premier League matches that Eddie Howe has lost at home:
19 December 2021 – Newcastle 0 Manchester City 4
30 April 2022 – Newcastle 0 Liverpool 1
18 February 2023 0 Newcastle 0 Liverpool 2
7 May 2023 – Newcastle 0 Arsenal 2
27 August 2023 – Newcastle 1 Liverpool 2
26 December 2023 – Newcastle 1 Forest 3
13 January 2024 – Newcastle 2 Manchester City 3
This is how difficult it is to win against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United on Tyneside.
Best team in England (Europe?) Manchester City have managed it twice, then the next best two teams during these past few years, Liverpool and Arsenal have managed it four times between them.
Other than that, only that freak Forest win. Good luck to them as they took their breakaway chances but that day Newcastle were cruising 1-0 and then just before half-time when Newcastle had a man over in the box, Almiron failed to either score or pass for somebody else to do so, instead Forest ran straight down the other end and equalised.
Eddie Howe has lost only seven of 55 Premier League matches at St James’ Park in over 34 months.
To sum that up, immediately before Eddie arrived, the previous 16 home Premier League games dating back ten months to early January 2021, had seen an NUFC SJP record of Played 16 Won 3 Drawn 5 Lost 8.
It doesn’t mean that any of us should feel complacent when Newcastle United play at home in the Premier League BUT it should give us all every confidence that Eddie Howe is unlikely to see his team lose.
Eddie Howe averaging 2.07 points per home PL match and 1.96 goals per match, whilst averaging 0.95 goals conceded per St James’ Park Premier League game.
More of the same please.
(***Coincidentally, I have just had a look at the home results of that other ‘United’, Erik ten Hag in his last 20 Premier League home matches at Old Trafford going back to September 2023, has lost eight of his last 20 home PL matches)
Newcastle United upcoming match schedule, confirmed to end of November:
Tuesday 1 October 2024 – AFC Wimbledon v Newcastle (7.45pm) Sky Sports+ (To be played at St James’ Park)
Saturday 5 October – Everton v Newcastle (5.30pm) Sky Sports
Saturday 19 October – Newcastle v Brighton (3pm)
Sunday 27 October – Chelsea v Newcastle (2pm) Sky Sports
W/C Monday 28 October – AFC Wimbledon or Newcastle v Chelsea
Saturday 2 November – Newcastle v Arsenal (12.30pm) TNT Sports
Sunday 10 November – Forest v Newcastle (2pm) Sky Sports
Monday 25 November – Newcastle v West Ham (8pm) Sky Sports
Saturday 30 November – Crystal Palace v Newcastle
