With Chelsea being beaten 2-1 tonight at Manchester City, and Liverpool throwing away a two goal lead to go down 3-2 at Loftus Road, the results tonight went Newcastle’s way, but there was late drama in both games.
And that means that Newcastle are now 5 points clear of Liverpool on 47 points and only two points behind Chelsea, and we could be in 5th place in the Premier League on Sunday night.
If Chelsea lose at home to Tottenham on Saturday afternoon and Newcastle win at the The Hawthorns the following day, then Newcastle will be in 5th place in the league table on Sunday night, one point clear of Chelsea.
Chelsea looked good tonight and played well, and when Gary Cahill put them ahead in the 59th minute with a rather fortunate deflected goal – it looked good for Chelsea, and until that goal City simply had not looked creative enough.
Chelsea had been the better side, but when Carloz Tevez came on after 66 minutes for his first game since last September, things turned in City’s favor with the Argentine’s added creativity.
Sergio Aguero scored from the penalty spot on 74 minutes for his 17th league goal of the season.
And then a wonderfully worked goal between Tevez and Samir Nasri just five minutes from the end, was enough for Manchester City to take all 3 points.
So QPR scored three unanswered goals in the last 13 minutes and Man City scored two unanswered goals in the last 12 minute to win their games, and both results were great for the Magpies.
City are now on 69 points and just one point behind Manchester United, but 14 points above 3rd placed Arsenal, who won 1-0 at Everton.
Liverpool were cruising 2-0 up at Loftus Road, with goals from Sebastian Coates after 53 minutes and Dirk Kuyt after 72 minutes, and it seemed that Liverpool were in an easy winning position.
But QPR had replaced an out of form Joey Barton with Jamie Mackie on the right wing, and would you believe it, the London side came storming back with three goals in the last 13 minutes of the game.
And that allowed QPR to get their first win in six league games, and climbed out of the bottom three.
On 77 minutes Shawn Derry headed in nicely from a corner, and then Djibril Cissé got the equalizer with four minutes to go, but then Mackie got the dramatic winner in stoppage time, and QPR fans went wild.
What a finish by QPR when all looked lost, and there have to be question marks about that Liverpool defense – Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse please take note – for our home game with the Reds on April 1st.
And Tottenham almost lost their 4th league game in a row at home to Stoke, but Rafael Van der Vaart scored the equalizer deep into stoppage time to get a draw 1-1 against a good Stoke side, after Cameron Jerome had put Stoke ahead on 75 minutes.
And Tottenham are now one point behind Arsenal in 4th place after collecting just one point from their last four league games, since hammering Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane – that will teach them! :D.
So if Tottenham can beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and Newcastle can get all 3 points at The Hawthorns on Sunday afternoon, amazingly enough, Newcastle will be in 5th position in the league table.
The results tonight should give Alan Pardew and the Newcastle players some real incentive to be at their very best on Sunday afternoon, and if we can play near our best form the lads could get the win.
Howay The Lads!!
Comments welcome.
75 comments so far
TemuriKetsbaia
Mar 21, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Comment #15th
Alan_Pard_Who
Mar 21, 2012 at 10:54 PM
Comment #2Am I stoned or is ed drunk?
Is it not 5th we can move into?
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 10:56 PM
Comment #3Repost from last thread
@Tarie Liverpool have not had realistic CL ambitions for a good few years in all honesty. There are 5 teams that have more realistic expectations of CL footy.
MA didn’t expect Liverpool to come in with a bid that was more than 3 times AC’s value so when it did he accepted it, which was the right thing to do financially.
Llambias never said that they would sell if the club coming in for a player harboured CL ambitions so you are simply making things up in that regard.
AC is one of us at the end of the day, perhaps he was lured under false pretences that a move to Liverpool would see him play CL footy and pave his way to be England’s No 9. The move has not worked for him as of yet but it is unfair to call him Judas.
Oleg G
Mar 21, 2012 at 10:56 PM
Comment #4yes, of course it is 5th. Ed, go to sleep, you are tired 🙂
toonincheek
Mar 21, 2012 at 10:57 PM
Comment #53rd – to say 5th.
toonincheek
Mar 21, 2012 at 10:58 PM
Comment #6But Ed – you are No. 1 – a real star
Jail for Ashley
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:00 PM
Comment #7I wonder what type of reception Tevez would have got had City been six points clear at the top.
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Comment #8hello fellas. loved the results tonight. ruddy optimism valleys armed forces have anything to do with this?
Alan_Pard_Who
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:04 PM
Comment #9Is anyone delighted that the fans that have called us deluded for years (bin dippers) are now no longer considered a big team.
Thier fans think they have devine right to qualify for cl every year and challenging for the title is what they expect. Ha ha ha
Reality bights hard and I hope we beat them and finish higher. Yes they have won the worthingtons cup (or whatever it is called) but they’ll soon be flogging that at cash generator to raise funds to sign another ‘superstar’ to join Carroll, Henderson, downing and Adam!
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:04 PM
Comment #10My men blitzkrieged QPR, City and Stoke with Daffodils and Smiles…it was a massacre 😉
Jail for Ashley
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:07 PM
Comment #11Ruddy @ 3
Here here.
tarie4
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:08 PM
Comment #12Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mate…i said Liverpool had a better chance of champions league footy than us…at the time!!! They were in the Europa league too…if I was Carroll at the time…i too wud have left…
and Mr D did say (albeit not direct quotes) that is a bigger club!!! (most likely a champions league team) came in with a bigger pay packet and the right offer the player will be sold…
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:10 PM
Comment #13good job major ruddy.
missed all the banter earlier cos i fell asleep. bloody man flu.
@apw Liverpool are a massive team and should be instantly granted cl football for their history alone. how dare anybody deny king kenny 😛
Ed Harrison
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Comment #14Whoops – wrong again – I’ve changed it – 5th place on Sunday!!!
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Comment #15@Tarie
Llambias did say that if a bigger club came in with a huge offer then it would have to be considered. We are in a position of choice, not necessity with regards selling players. It will take a similarly huge offer to sway the powers that be to part with Krul, Tiote and co.
The move was deemed to be beneficial to all parties, it was not that our hands were tied with regards the price, we got a good price, and Carroll got what was perceived to be a chance to play football at a higher level.
In hindsight we can easily say that it was a wrong move for him, and an excellent move for us. With this thought in mind I think you would be exceptionally harsh on AC to call him Judas, after all, he is a Geordie 😀
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:15 PM
Comment #16some of the “supporters” on here complain when win but look crap. wonder how the dirty scousers are feeling losing after looking decent? and the fact that joey barton came off then qpr fought back is just icing on the cake
Alan_Pard_Who
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:16 PM
Comment #17I think everybodies 2nd most hated team used to be man ure, now 9/10 I believe would say them dirty scows rats.
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:16 PM
Comment #18Don’t worry Norris myself and Ibiza decided that we would wait until the next meeting before we made any major progress in the sleepy little village of Optimism Valley, though we have plans for HUGE expansion 😛
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:16 PM
Comment #19its alright we won’t hold it against
you ed because your blog is immense
Alan_Pard_Who
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:18 PM
Comment #20Hey ed, I never knew you had an account?!
Klatoon
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:20 PM
Comment #21Always great when Ed posts a comment
🙂
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:21 PM
Comment #22The thread has now been silenced into quiet awe…
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:21 PM
Comment #23good good ruddy. because I’ve big ideas. as baron von Norris of the optimism valley air support team (OVAST) i plan on carpet bombing this blog and indeed the football world with geordie positive thoughts and happiness
Alan_Pard_Who
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:22 PM
Comment #24Ha ha Jose Enrique
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:23 PM
Comment #25all hail ed the king of optimism thinking that the weekend results could get us into 4th 😉
tarie4
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:24 PM
Comment #26Ruddy Marveaux-lous
TRUE…he will and forever be a Geordie hahaha…to bad he is wasting away there…him and ba wud have been lethal I think at the beginning of the season…off topic u must be a lawyer or one in training Ur reasoning and diplomatic skills are quite impressive 😉
GeordieDan
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Comment #27hahahahahahahaha!
That QPR v Liverpool game was fantastic!
I was loving the Scousers getting a draw but losing after being 2-0 up with just 15 mins or so to go was truly hilarious.
Never mind bin dippers. Europe maybe next season when we make the Champions League! 😀
Tsunki
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Comment #28Lads I’m thinking of moving into optimism Valley but I hear the rates are high. Maybe they will look a bit better after the West Brom game?
Oh do I not like that the scroungers got banged in the last quarter of an hour, do I not like that a lot! Consolation prize? Joey B got booed off by his own crowd. You just can’t buy charisma.. Maybe he’ll quit twitter and found his own network, Squitter?
Yes, optimism Valley, I like the sound of that……..:)
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:25 PM
Comment #29OVAST! Man I love it! 😀
We are on a global crusade to spread the good news of all things NUFC across the world, but as with all big plans we must start small. And to do that we must start our campaign on this blog, to re-educate the neggars and arm all our troops with daffodils and smiles 😀
By the way, this Optimism Valley thing is brilliant, the mere thought of it makes me chuckle!!
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:30 PM
Comment #30@Tarie
Why thank you for the kind compliment and I must also add that your powers of deduction are also spot on, I enrolled in Law at the University of Newcastle and after a brief sabbatical will be re-enrolling in September to finish my degree 😀
@Tsunki
You are more than welcome to join us here in the Valley! Rates are high but so are our spirits!! 😀
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:33 PM
Comment #31it looks as though the power of daffodils smiles and positive thought might make tsunki an optimism vallite sooner rather than later. maybe his own title will sway him…..
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:37 PM
Comment #32How about “Head of Aquatic Naval Strategy for Optimism Valley” H.A.N.S.O.V
😀
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:42 PM
Comment #33cheick Norris head of the OVAST (HOVAST ?)
tsunki HANSOV
and what was your ridiculously long title ruddy?
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:43 PM
Comment #34Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Optimism Valley 😀
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:43 PM
Comment #35OR CICOAFOV 😛
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:48 PM
Comment #36chief officer for defence against resistant mackems (ie Ted bob billy)
ibizatoon CODARM
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:50 PM
Comment #37Ohoho I like it Norris!
My title needs some work, I think it is off to the drawing board for me 😛
BLOBB UTD FC
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:53 PM
Comment #38Hi guys. Anything interesting going down?
davybtoon
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:56 PM
Comment #39Oh My the southern press are at it again lol new look Chelsea want ba, krul n tiote haha
cheick Norris
Mar 21, 2012 at 11:59 PM
Comment #40general overlord of the smiling army of daffodiliers
GOSAD