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) |