From Kevin Keegan\’s Entertainers to the memorable controversy of St.
RIYADH: On Sunday, Newcastle United will host Tottenham Hotspur in St. Louis.
Here are five times in which Newcastle took part in some of the most memorable Premier League games, games that included the club\’s height, from former coach Kevin Keegan\’s Entertainers to the extraordinary season of Mike Ashley while playing for Arsenal.
Newcastle 3-0 Liverpool (November 21, 1993)
A sign of the things to come.
In their first Premier League season following promotion last May, the happy Keegan team made a good start among the big boys and sat in ninth place on the table.
Visiting Liverpool manager Graeme Souness and his struggling team realized that they would be blown away on a snowy northeast day by a team that would continue to play with great love.
Poor Liverpool were divided by the likes of Scott Sellars, Robert Lee, and Peter Beardsley, and the result, over and over again, was the same. Goal by Andy Cole. Three similar strikes in the first half of the hour have given the home team a leader who will continue until the final whistle.
Newcastle had announced that good times had returned to St. Louis. James\’ Park. The team will finish third after champions Manchester United and second-placed Blackburn Rovers, and Cole will continue to score 34 goals that season. And better things were at hand.
Keegan’s Entertainers had arrived.
Liverpool 4-3 Newcastle (April 3, 1996)
The game continues to be the golden standard of Premier League football.
Newcastle reached Anfield with a 12-point lead over Manchester United in one of the most exciting title races. Although three points were left by their rivals at the top of the table, Keegan\’s men still had two games in hand, and a win would enable them to gain momentum during the crucial season.
To make matters worse, Roy Evans\’ Liverpool, who have gone through the final days of the FA Cup a few days ago, still had a distant hope of winning the league itself. Next up was the biggest game in the history of the Premier League.
Liverpool took the lead through the first Robbie Fowler but were soon left behind thanks to goals from Les Ferdinand and the brilliant David Ginola. Fowler equalized early in the second half before Faustino Asprilla, who racked up Liverpool\’s defense overnight, gave Newcastle their second lead of the night almost immediately. Stan Collymore then equalized to set the final 23 memorable minutes.
Time and familiarity have not diminished the recipient of Collymore\’s injury time in front of the burning Kop.
The game was played at an unbelievable speed, with all seven goals changing the Premier League table.
In the end, the permanent image was Keegan falling on top of the advertising campaign. The title race would have been reduced until the last day, but that defeat at Anfield was the day when, in hindsight, Newcastle fans would identify themselves as the Premier League title lost to Manchester United.
Newcastle 5-0 Manchester United (October 20, 1996)
Nothing can take away the embarrassment of losing the Premier League title in 1995-96 to Manchester United who led the table with 12 points earlier this season. To make matters worse, Alex Ferguson\’s champions then beat Keegan\’s men 4-0 at the start of the season – and Alan Shearer\’s record – Charity Shield at Wembley.
But October will bring a satisfactory level of retaliation.
After a mixed start to the season, Newcastle’s Entertainers welcomed fourth place to Manchester United at St. Louis.
Seventh will be the glory of Keegan\’s reign as manager. Newcastle outscored their visitors and took a 2-0 lead during the season thanks to Darren Peacock\’s head and Ginola\’s impressive strike.
The second half was much better with the close efforts of Ferdinand and Shearer followed by Philippe Albert\’s excellent penis which went above Peter Schmeichel\’s sharp five-footer.
Sadly, for Newcastle, a home defeat by Arsenal at the end of November cost them a place in the top flight, which they could not regain in the remaining season. An unbeaten run of seven games at the end of the campaign saw the team meet to finish in second place and take their first place in the Champions League, and the first was awarded to the second.
But by then Keegan had left the club, leaving in January to be replaced by Kenny Dalglish. The happy times were coming to an end.
Newcastle 8-0 Sheffield Wednesday (September 19, 1999)
A 2-1 defeat at home to bitter rivals Sunderland. Resignation of manager Ruud Gullit. Below second in the Premier League table with one point from seven games. September 1999 was not a good time to be a Newcastle supporter.
Enter Sir Bobby Robson.
Winning the mid-week UEFA Cup at CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria was a good start for the new manager, but all eyes are on his first Premier League match against Sheffield on Wednesday. It will be a football festival, with a clue where the former England and Barcelona coach will take his home team.
The visitors simply did not know why they had been beaten. Shearer scored five goals (a hat-trick in the 12th minute of the first half), while Aaron Hughes, Kieron Dyer and Gary Speed scored each goal as Newcastle thrashed the visitors 8-0 to b James St .
The season of relegation will end with a 11th-place finish and a FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea.
It took a few years for Newcastle to lift the Premier League table, but Robson will eventually lead the team to a fourth and third place finish, then return to the Champions League.
Newcastle 4-4 Arsenal (Feb. 5, 2011)
During the mid-table struggles, this amazing game was a reminder that a few football stadiums could compete against St.
Even one big game of football – actually a two-half game – could convey what happened on the field that day.
Arsenal\’s Arsene Wenger\’s side, second in the table and Manchester United\’s biggest rivals in the Premier League, beat the home side in the opening 14 minutes, beating four times with Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou, and Robin van Persie twice. Anything that might go wrong with Newcastle, it\’s done.
The second half saw a complete reversal of luck in Alan Pardew\’s team. Abou Diaby\’s sending five minutes into the second half looked like it would provide electricity to Newcastle but in the 68th minute they were four goals away. After that everything changed.
The penalty was converted by Joey Barton, and seven minutes later the score was 2-4 thanks to Leon Best\’s strike. With seven minutes left in the game, Newcastle were given another penalty, and Barton scored again to give the home side an idea of what could be one of the team\’s biggest rivals ever to return.
In 87 minutes, what seemed like an impossible dream 20 minutes earlier came true. Barton\’s free kick was defended by Arsenal defenders only Cheick Tiote to hit a stunning volley past Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.