Newcastle United

For the neutral, there’s no better scoreline in football than 3-2. Goals, end-to-end action and drama are all promised in such an outcome, and Leicester City’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Newcastle United delivered Saturday.

On the 125th anniversary of Newcastle’s founding, Joselu brought the 52,000-strong audience to its feet by opening the scoring following some great work by Dwight Gayle. 

The feel-good aura surrounding Newcastle United was evaporating faster than a fart into a Panasonic exhaust fan as they stared a fifth-straight defeat in the face on Tuesday. West Bromwich Albion took a 2-0 lead in the 56th minute of their Premier League match at The Hawthorns, but a spirited fightback earned Newcastle an invaluable point and somewhat arrested the slide on Tyneside.  

The footballing gods are fickle. One month ago, a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace sent Newcastle United to the lofty heights of sixth in the Premier League table, in front of both Arsenal and Liverpool. Now, after being held scoreless for 180 minutes in defeats to Burnley and Bournemouth and falling to 11th, the Toon travel to Old Trafford to play a Manchester United side welcoming back both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba to the side.

There’s certainly not a whole lot in this — it’s wild January transfer speculation two months before the window opens from dubious sources — except that it kinda makes sense.

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has made no secret of his desire to sell the club over the past year, but the 53-year-old sporting goods billionaire has now made his intentions perfectly clear via a formal statement from Saint James’ Park officials.

This Philippe Coutinho wonder goal from outside the box, the 17th of his Premier League career, was canceled out by a fortunate Joselu goal as Liverpool and Newcastle United played to a 1-1 draw on Sunday at Saint James’ Park. Liverpool now find themselves trailing the Manchester clubs by seven points after seven matches following their third draw of the season.