No other side in the division could make quite a big of a mess when winning 2-0 against 10 men and seemingly being very comfortable than Newcastle United.
Celebrations had barely stopped following Issa Diop’s 36th minute own goal before the camera panned to Craig Dawson being shown a second yellow card for a cynical foul on Joelinton in the build up.
An own goal and a red card in the space of seconds is the type of self implosion usually reserved for Newcastle and it got worse for the Hammers with the usually reliable Fabianski making an absolute howler to gift Joelinton his fifth goal of the season before the break.
Going into the break against 10 men with a two goal lead should have been enough to put fans’ minds at ease but this is Newcastle United and instead of being proactive in looking to put the game to bed, we instead decided to sit really deep and invite the 10 men of West Ham to ask questions of our defence.
Soon enough, they had an answer with Diop atoning for his previous mistake to put them back in the game. Newcastle then shot themselves in the foot again with Ciaran Clark handling in the area with a spot kick correctly awarded and the in form Jesse Lingard converting via the post.
For all the negativity of Newcastle’s collapse, what came next was a sign as to what will keep us in the division. We picked ourselves up and went again.
Similarly to the 2-2 draw with Spurs, it was Arsenal loanee that came through with the goal, heading Matt Ritchie’s cross into the back of the net in the 82nd minute.
We saw it in the comeback at Burnley as well. In the 3-0 loss to Brighton, the players looked like they couldn’t care less about the future of the football club and it has been so refreshing to see that this very much is not the case.
Our Premier League status is not yet confirmed but with United up to 15th and an eight point gap over Fulham in 18th, it is looking more and more likely that we will be a Premier League side next year.