Newcastle United back to winning the good fight against Premier League Big Six? Here is what’s happening | OneFootball

The Premier League Big Six did everything that they could to stop the Newcastle United takeover.

Anybody would think they were scared of their cosy cartel finally having a little bit of competition…

Unable to stop the takeover, the Premier League Big Six have then continued off the pitch to do all they can to try and stop Newcastle United, or at the very least, slow NUFC down.

What about on the pitch though?

How has this worked out for the Premier League Big Six against Newcastle United?

Or of more interest to ourselves as fans, how are Eddie Howe’s NUFC side getting on against the Premier League Big Six?

After all, if Eddie Howe and Newcastle United are to really compete, these are the games that in reality you have to start winning on a regular basis, or at least not losing.

2021/22 season – Eddie Howe Newcastle United team v Premier League Big Six:

Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0

Liverpool 3 Newcastle 1

Newcastle 0 Man City 4

Newcastle 1 Man Utd 1

Chelsea 1 Newcastle 0

Spurs 5 Newcastle 1

Newcastle 0 Liverpool 1

Man City 5 Newcastle 0

Newcastle 2 Arsenal 0

Played 9 Won 1 Drawn 1 Lost 7

Points won 4 of a possible 27 at an average of 0.44 points per match against Premier League Big Six.

2022/23 season – Eddie Howe Newcastle United team v Premier League Big Six:

Newcastle 3 Man City 3

Liverpool 2 Newcastle 1

Man U 0 Newcastle 0

Tottenham 1 Newcastle 2

Newcastle 1 Chelsea 0

Arsenal 0 Newcastle 0

Newcastle 0 Liverpool 2

Man City 2 Newcastle 0

Newcastle 2 Man U 0

Newcastle 6 Tottenham 1

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 2

Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1

Played 12 Won 4 Drawn 4 Lost 4

Points won 16 of a possible 36 at an average of 1.33 points per match against Premier League Big Six.

2023/24 season – Eddie Howe Newcastle United team v Premier League Big Six:

Man City 1 Newcastle 0

Newcastle 1 Liverpool 2

Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0

Newcastle 4 Chelsea 1

Newcastle 1 Man U 0

Tottenham 4 Newcastle 1

Liverpool 4 Newcastle 2

Newcastle 2 Man City 3

Arsenal 4 Newcastle 1

Chelsea 3 Newcastle 2

Newcastle 4 Tottenham 0

Man U 3 Newcastle 2

Played 12 Won 4 Drawn 0 Lost 8

Points won 12 of a possible 36 at an average of 1.00 points per match against Premier League Big Six.

2023/24 season – Eddie Howe Newcastle United team v Premier League Big Six:

Newcastle 2 Tottenham 1

Newcastle 1 Man City 1

Played 2 Won 1 Drawn 1 Lost 0

Points won 4 of a possible 6 at an average of 2.00 points per match against Premier League Big Six.

If you look back and take the whole of the 2022/23 season and all 12 of the NUFC matches against the Premier League Big Six, plus the first five of last season into early December 2023, Eddie Howe’s team had a record over 16 months against the Premier League Big Six of played 17 Won 7 Drawn 4 Lost 6.

Newcastle United could definitely at that point be said to be winning the fight against the Premier League Big Six.

Despite the number of unavailable players going from bad, to really bad, to worst ever in the club’s history, Eddie Howe and his players somehow won three in a row, three home games in a row 1-0 v Arsenal, 4-1 v Chelsea and 1-0 v Man U.

In the final minutes of that Man U match of course, Nick Pope picked up that freak shoulder injury that tipped us over the edge of the cliff.

So we had to take our pain as literally the situation became all but impossible, including/especially against the Premier League Big Six.

In the five weeks and seven PL matches that followed the win over Man U on 2 December 2023, Newcastle lost six of the seven and they included defeats to Tottenham, Liverpool and Man City. The remaining four matches against ‘Big Six’ opposition saw another three defeats, the only exception the usual (4-0) home win over Spurs.

This season though, the signs are promising against the Premier League Big Six. In a start to the season where performances have been indifferent generally, United have won five of their eight matches (in all competitions) and lost only one.

Two of these eight matches have been against Premier League Big Six teams, a win over Tottenham and the excellent performance and point against Man City.

Very early days but if anybody had offered four points and averaging two points per match from these two fixtures, you’d have snapped their hand off.

All matches and results are important of course and I look at these next two away at Everton and home to Brighton, as two games that could really give us a platform to then attack the rest of the season.

However, I can’t help but then look at following them, the next two PL matches are away at Chelsea and home to Arsenal.

In the 2022/23 season when United finished fourth, we ended up four points ahead of fifth placed Liverpool. Thanks in no small part to the 16 points taken from the Premier League Big Six, with four wins and four draws in the 12 PL matches against the dirty half dozen.

With four points from a possible six against two of these clubs, that is a great start. I think for sure that if Eddie Howe’s side can match, or even surpass, those 16 points from a possible 36 in that 2022/23 season against the ‘Big Six’, then I reckon that this will be part of what will almost certainly be a superb season overall for NUFC. As if you pick up that many points against those six teams, then for sure you will be doing more than alright against the rest.