Craig Burley suggests Newcastle’s run at the top may be over now

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Pundit Craig Burley has suggested that Newcastle United’s run at the top may be over now, following underwhelming performances since the World Cup.

Speaking on ESPN FC, the former Scotland international claimed that the Magpies haven’t looked the same since the new-year, thus implying a worrying doubt in their pursuit of the top-four.

“I think they’ve looked like this [leggy] since after the World Cup pretty much, maybe with the odd exception,” Burley said.

“We’ve talked about it. It’s not as if they’ve been terrible, as Don said, they’re not getting beat.

“But just that little bit of spark has gone out the game.

“Before the World Cup kicked off, I mean that competition for Newcastle came about at a bad time, because they were flying.”

Newcastle have lost their spark?

We don’t necessarily agree with the suggestion that the Toon look like a shadow of themselves since returning from the World Cup.

With the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth yesterday, Newcastle extended their unbeaten streak to equal a club-record 17 league games.

Currently fourth in the table, fans of the Tyneside outfit would have snapped your hand off to be in this position at this point in the season.

With just 16 matches to go, Eddie Howe’s side have a genuine chance at securing Champions League football.

Therefore, if they pull this off by a 1-0 win here and there, also maintaining their unbeaten run as they do, supporters wouldn’t care in the slightest.

However, the fact that Newcastle have drawn five of their last six games is somewhat worrying.

It won’t matter if you don’t lose, if you also fail to pick up three points. They need to keep pushing themselves further up the table where they can.