The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsNewcastle United
The Magpies last season were right in the mix for relegation after a terrible run at the start and end of the season. The Magpies had a horrific start to last season, going two months without a single win. However Alan Pardew’s side beating Leicester City 1-0, began a winning streak of 5 games, including a home win to Liverpool and an away win to Tottenham Hotspur.
During December, Pardew’s side also managed to defeat champions Chelsea 2-1 at St James’ Park, which ended the Blues undefeated run. It went all downhill when Alan Pardew took charge of his former club Crystal Palace on January 2nd 2015, leaving caretaker manager John Carver to take charge. Newcastle didn’t look to be entering the relegation battle, until after defeating Aston Villa 1-0 at the end of February. The Magpies then failed to win 10 games after that, losing 9, meaning on the final day, it was between Newcastle and Hull City to decide the last team to go down. Fortunately for John Carver’s side, Moussa Sissoko and Jonas Gutierrez saved the Magpies from the drop by beating West Ham 2-0.
The Magpies hopes for an improved season have been bolstered, with promising signings such as Aleksandar Mitrovic, the Belgian Pro League’s top scorer from Anderlecht, Chancel Mbemba, the talented 21 year old defender also from Anderlecht and Georginio Wijnaldum the talented attacking midfielder from PSV Eindhoven. With former England manager Steve McClaren assuming the head coach role and a decent result against Southampton on the opening day, where Wijnaldum and Sissoko scored on the 2-2 stalemate at St James’ Park, the season is brightening up for the Newcastle. William Hill have offered customers 5/1 for Newcastle to go down whilst Bet365 and Coral have the Magpies labeled 6/1 to be relegated.
