Where Newcastle United would be in Premier League table if getting ...

Just looking at this Premier League table on Sunday morning.

Wondering where exactly Newcastle United deserve to be, based on their performances.

Looking back through the 15 matches so far, has big a part has luck played, do Eddie Howe and his team deserve to have more or less points than they currently do?

This is how the Premier League table looks after Saturday’s results:

So, the first 15 matches producing eight wins, two draws and five points, leaving Newcastle currently seventh on 26 points.

This is my assessment of the 15 games and whether Newcastle United got the result their performances deserved:

Newcastle 5 Villa 1 (Fair)

Man City 1 Newcastle 0 (Fair)

Newcastle 1 Liverpool 2 (***NUFC deserved to win)

Brighton 3 Newcastle 1 (Fair)

Newcastle 1 Brentford 0 (Fair)

Sheff Utd 0 Newcastle 8 (Fair)

Newcastle 2 Burnley 0 (Fair)

West Ham 2 Newcastle 2 (***NUFC deserved to win)

Newcastle 4 Palace 0 (Fair)

Wolves 2 Newcastle 2 (Fair)

Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0 (Fair)

Bournemouth 2 Newcastle 0 (Fair)

Newcastle 4 Chelsea 1 (Fair)

Newcastle 1 Man U 0 (Fair)

Everton 3 Newcastle 0 (Fair)

As you can see, in my opinion 13 of the 15 results went pretty much how the performances deserved.

I was tempted to mark Thursday night down as a draw. I do still think that Everton were fortunate to win and that certainly NUFC had plenty of chances as an away team to get the goals for a result. However, I will let this one stand as I suppose you can argue that the self-inflicted mistakes could be seen to have made Everton deserve the win.

However, down at West Ham, I think for sure Newcastle United should have won. They didn’t turn up in the first half but totally dominated the second half and should have finished the Hammers off. Newcastle had 65% possession overall in the match and 10 shots to West Ham’s five, that late late equaliser was so undeserved.

As for the Liverpool match, I was appalled at the number of Newcastle fans having a go at Eddie Howe and the players. Yes they should have finished the scousers off BUT it was laughable that then so many said that Liverpool ‘deserved’ to win.

With both 11 men and then 10, Liverpool hadn’t had a serious effort on goal until those two very late smash and grab goals. Fair play to them for sticking at it and doing the best they could with 10 men BUT if Newcastle United had had any luck at all, they would have won this one, never mind getting nothing at all (Newcastle had 23 shots compared to 9 for Liverpool, plus so many missed chances and the woodwork and a world class save from Alisson saving the scousers).

This article was largely sparked by the luck Liverpool have had generally this season. So many games they have won that they didn’t deserve, not just the one against Newcastle. Just this past week or so, Liverpool picking up 4-6 points they didn’t deserve. Fluked that win at Palace yesterday with the help of the match officials, then same last weekend when Fulham deserved the win and led 3-2 when reaching the 87th minute, only to end up losing!

Man U are seen as struggling this season BUT it should be so much worse. Their performances have been generally so dire and only with the invaluable assistance of luck and match officials, are they not in the bottom half.

Similarly, Tottenham carried serious luck in the opening period of the season, only for things to completely turn in recent times, hopefully that trend continues later today.

Back to Newcastle United and what they have deserved so far, in my opinion.

With just those extra five points (from the West Ham and Liverpool matches), Newcastle United would currently be fourth and only three points behind Liverpool, five points behind Arsenal but with today’s match in hand.

Such small margins between success and failure.

Here’s hoping the luck starts flowing Newcastle’s way a bit now, whether you are talking about injuries or results.