More chaos with the Geordies

Last updated : 05 May 2015 By Tony Scholes

We bumped into a number of the Newcastle fans on the M1 last Saturday. They were on their way to Leicester for the lunchtime kick off and we were going to London for our game at West Ham.

They are not happy I can tell you, but which fans would be when they'd seen their team lose seven consecutive league games and, as they predicted, were on their way to see number eight? They reckoned, even before the Leicester game, that they were in serious problems at the foot of the league.

They were a goal down in the first minute, lost 3-0 and ended the game with nine men but it gets better. Daryl Janmaat was sent off right at the end but it was the dismissal of Mike Williamson just past the hour that has caused ructions.

Manager John Carver has accused him of getting sent off on purpose. I wondered what the repercussions would be and thought Carver might be on his way when he was called into a meeting yesterday.

It looks as though he was with Newcastle asking Steve McClaren, who has just managed to take Derby out of the play-offs, to take over for the last three games. He turned it down and has now confirmed he won't be going there this summer.

Today, Remy Cabella, who was left out of the team at Leicester, has suggested that Carver was trying to provoke his players into action, and the news coming out of the club is that a change of manager at this stage might rock the boat too much.

Now I thought that boat  was well and truly rocking, but this is a club that's seems to lurch from one crisis to another and has done since Mike Ashley took over the club. Maybe they'll just bring Joe Kinnear back for a third spell at St. James' Park, that would put the tin lid on things.

Eight successive defeats has left them only two points clear of the drop zone. If you assume that we are going back down with QPR, and it would take some miracle for either of us to stay up now, it leaves five clubs fighting to avoid that last relegation place and only two points separate them.

Aston Villa and Newcastle have 35 points, Leicester and Hull both have 34 with Sunderland in that last relegation position just now with 33 points. Sunderland do have a game in hand but that's against Arsenal and they do only have one home game remaining.

At the other end of the table I don't think there was ever any real doubting that Chelsea would win the title and they secured that on Sunday. Man City and Arsenal are both just one point away from a confirmed Champions League place with Man United likely to take the fourth qualifying place.

Just three games left - can Newcastle make it 11 and find themselves in the Championship?

All the weekend results and stats are below with the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and this weekend's fixtures.

The Results
Saturday 2nd May
ASTON VILLA 3 EVERTON 2 SUNDERLAND 2 SOUTHAMPTON 1
LEICESTER 3 NEWCASTLE 0 SWANSEA 2 STOKE 0
LIVERPOOL 2 QPR 1 WEST HAM 1 BURNLEY 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 0 WEST BROM 1  
Sunday 3rd May
CHELSEA 1 CRYSTAL PALACE 0 TOTTENHAM 0 MANCHESTER CITY 1
Monday 4th May
HULL 1 ARSENAL 3  

 

The Stats
Biggest Win LEICESTER 3-0 v NEWCASTLE (home)
Total Goals Scored 24 (15 home - 9 away)
Player Scoring Most Goals 2 - CHRISTIAN BENTEKE, ASTON VILLA (v EVERTON)
LEO ULLOA, LEICESTER (v NEWCASTLE)
Highest Attendance 75,454 - MANCHESTER UNITED v WEST BROM
Lowest Attendance 20,661 - SWANSEA v STOKE
Total Yellow Cards 41
Total Red Cards 6
Most Cards in a Game LEICESTER v NEWCASTLE (5Y 2R) Ref: MIKE DEAN
LIVERPOOL v QPR (6Y 1R) Ref: MARTIN ATKINSON
TOTTENHAM v MANCHESTER CITY (7Y) Ref: ANDRE MARRINER

 

Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
22 SERGIO AGUERO (MANCHESTER CITY) - includes 4 penalties
20 HARRY KANE (TOTTENHAM) - includes 2 penalties
19 DIEGO COSTA (CHELSEA)
17 CHARLIE AUSTIN (QPR) - includes 3 penalties
16 ALEXIS SANCHEZ (ARSENAL)
14 OLIVIER GIROUD (ARSENAL)
EDEN HAZARD (CHELSEA) -includes 3 penalties
12 CHRISTIAN BENTEKE (ASTON VILLA)
SAIDO BERAHINO (WEST BROM) - includes 3 penalties
WAYNE ROONEY (MANCHESTER UNITED) - includes 1 penalty
11 PAPISS CISSE (NEWCASTLE) - includes 1 penalty
GRAZIANO PELLE (SOUTHAMPTON)
DAVID SILVA (MANCHESTER CITY)
10 WILFRIED BONY (MANCHESTER CITY) - includes 1 penalty - (9 for SWANSEA)
NACER CHADLI (TOTTENHAM)
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN (TOTTENHAM)
LEO ULLOA (LEICESTER) - includes 2 penalties
ROBIN VAN PERSIE (MANCHESTER UNITED)
9 MAME BIRAN DIOUF (STOKE)
DANNY INGS (BURNLEY) - includes 1 penalty
ROMELU LUKAKU (EVERTON) - includes 2 penalties
DIAFRA SAKHO (WEST HAM)

 

Hat Tricks
 Date Player & Game
13/09/14 3: DIEGO COSTA - CHELSEA v SWANSEA (home)
18/10/14 4: SERGIO AGUERO - MANCHESTER CITY v TOTTENHAM (home)
20/12/14 3: CHARLIE AUSTIN - QPR v WEST BROM (home)
31/01/15 3: JONATHAN WALTERS - STOKE v QPR (home)
21/03/15 3: HARRY KANE - TOTTENHAM v LEICESTER (home)
07/04/15 3: CHRISTIAN BENTEKE - ASTON VILLA v QPR (home)
11/04/15 3: YANNICK BOLASIE - CRYSTAL PALACE v SUNDERLAND (away)

 

Disciplinary Record (League and Cup)
Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R
  League   Total   League  Total 
ARSENAL 69 2 77 2 MANCHESTER UNITED 61 4 73 5
ASTON VILLA 68 8 79 9 NEWCASTLE 65 7 72 8
BURNLEY 61 2 63 2 QPR 74 3 77 3
CHELSEA 66 3 74 3 SOUTHAMPTON 56 3 74 4
CRYSTAL PALACE 61 4 63 4 STOKE 77 1 89 2
EVERTON 61 2 68 3 SUNDERLAND 87 1 98 2
HULL 69 6 72 6 SWANSEA 50 5 58 7
LEICESTER 48 4 57 4 TOTTENHAM 70 3 77 3
LIVERPOOL 61 3 72 3 WEST BROM 58 3 60 4
MANCHESTER CITY 73 2 76 2 WEST HAM 62 2 68 3

 

The Next Fixtures
Saturday 9th May
ASTON VILLA v WEST HAM LEICESTER v SOUTHAMPTON
CRYSTAL PALACE v MAN UNITED (17:30) NEWCASTLE v WEST BROM
EVERTON v SUNDERLAND (12:45) STOKE v TOTTENHAM
HULL v BURNLEY  
Sunday 10th May
CHELSEA v LIVERPOOL (13:30) MANCHESTER CITY V QPR (16:00)
Monday 11th May
ARSENAL V SWANSEA (20:00)