It all feels eerily like deja vu… | OneFootball

It was all proving a bit too easy, wasn’t it?

Hammering a smorgasbord of sides home and away as we sauntered towards the seemingly inevitable Champions League berth and possible top-two finish.

As fans, we allowed ourselves to be swept away upon the glorious wave of a second seasonal winning run, that looked like pulling us clear in the race for elite European competition next season.

Then came the rude awakening of Villa Park; a shuddering reality check, with the hosts absolutely dominating the match — and a 4-1 scoreline in truth flattering Jason Tindall’s Magpies.

With wings clipped, there remains a crumb of comfort.

A look back at a recent campaign and similar scoreline on virtually the same date two years prior to the recent Villans romp.

April 15, 2023 saw Eddie Howe’s troops heading to Villa Park during the business end of a campaign where they looked to  continue their meteoric rise towards remarkable qualification for the Champions League.

An Ollie Watkins masterclass, a three-goal home win and desolation among the visiting fans — it all feels eerily like deja vu.

Back then it was (a much better) Spurs team up next, followed by the often fruitless trip to Goodison Park, all while a suddenly rampant Liverpool sensed blood, with Salah and co the sharks circling to deny NUFC Champions League football..

What unfolded was truly remarkable.

Clearly stung by that abhorrent display in Birmingham, Newcastle took their anger out on shell-shocked Spurs, going 5-0 ahead in the opening 21 minutes and eventually winning the match 6-1.

Everton were next to feel our wrath, with Aleksander Isak producing one of the great runs during a pulsating 4-1 away win.

Southampton at home looked much easier on paper, but with Alex McCarthy in inspired form between the sticks, it took a while to break the Saints down.

Ultimately we won 3-1 and left ourselves on the brink of securing that much desired top-four conclusion to a memorable season.

Despite only six points from the final five matches, it was that hat-trick of hefty victories that effectively saw us over the line.

Looking at our next three fixtures this time, there are some parallels: we play a virtually already relegated side (Ipswich) at home, a side who are dropping off away (Brighton) and one of our rivals at home (Chelsea).

Let’s not take the Tractor Boys for granted, they’ve recently taken a point from both Villa Park and Stamford Bridge respectively.

But if we do harbour ambitions of competing with the best then these are must-win matches, and Ipswich have only those two draws and a fantastic win at out-of-sorts Bournemouth to show as reward for their past thirteen Premier League matches, with the other ten ending in defeat.

Brighton have been something of a nemesis for us over the past few seasons, with the current one no exception.

Having scrapped their way to a 1-0 win at SJP in the early throes of this campaign, they subsequently knocked us out of the FA Cup on our own patch again, with Yankuba Minteh showing us what we’ve missed.

The Seagulls were in the midst of the top-five race until a torrid recent run, which has seen them pick up just two points from five league matches and get knocked out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage by Nottingham Forest.

They will be without main goal threat Joao Pedro for out visit, while their form at The Amex is far from spectacular, with seven draws leaving them 10th in the home table. A point would be a decent yield from this trip.

Then comes Chelsea at home, in every sense likely to be a six-pointer.

The West London club’s form has fluctuated, with a chance to get into the top five weighing heavily on them and the diminishing form of Cole Palmer a cause for concern.

Trailing 1-0 with 83 minutes played, their equaliser and even later irritating winner at Fulham kept their hopes alive, during a weekend from hell for Newcastle — every other top seven side winning while we lost.

If Newcastle United get those seven points from the next three matches, it leaves us on 66 points with Arsenal (away) and Everton (home) to come — win either of those and we would certainly be in the top-five.

Defeat against Villa must sharpen minds once again, providing the catalyst for one final successful sequence to secure our final aspiration of what could truly be one of the greatest season in most fans’ memories.

A trophy AND Champions League qualification… If Carling did seasons. The dream remains in our hands with just five games to play.