Newcastle’s game on Sunday now has that bit of extra pressure

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Relegation candidates Bournemouth did Newcastle United a favour on Saturday by beating Tottenham but sadly Nottingham Forest couldn’t offer up the same courtesy when Manchester United came to town on Sunday.

Manchester United usurped Newcastle‘s third-place position in the league and opened up a three point gap between the two teams by beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the City Ground on Sunday.

Newcastle’s next game is against Tottenham on Sunday at St James’ Park. Spurs are three points behind Newcastle in fifth and will remain there even if they manage to beat the Magpies, unless they win like 13-0 but let’s not even think about that.

Eddie Howe‘s men have a game in hand over Spurs too, which could be crucial come the end of the season, but right now the pressure is back on Newcastle with Manchester United stealing our third spot.

Destiny, logically speaking, is still very much in our own hands by virtue of our superior goal difference over Tottenham and that game in hand, but after our defeat on Saturday and Manchester United’s win on Sunday the tides are turning somewhat.

It’s not time to hit the panic button just yet, there’s still plenty of football the be played, and Newcastle do tend to bounce back pretty well after a defeat, but with three points dropped and a change in position, the mood needs lifting on Tyneside.

Manchester United have quite an injury list at the minute so that could cause them to falter in some upcoming games. They don’t play next weekend as they’re in FA Cup action, so a win on Sunday would see Newcastle reclaim third place, but we’d be at the mercy of Man United’s game in hand.

Meanwhile, Tottenham are an unknown entity. You never know what you’re going to get from them week in week out, so Sunday’s game is a difficult one to call, although historically, Newcastle do well against Spurs at home, so there’s that comforting factor.

We’ve got to back Eddie’s boys to bounce back on Sunday and I’m sure the crowd at St James’ Park will be more than up to the task of roaring our boys on to victory.