Adam Barnish: A Case for the Defence – How Newcastle United compare to the Premier League’s tightest of backlines

IT would be the case that by the time of writing this, Newcastle United have conceded in each of their last two Premier League games – one each against West Ham and Bournemouth – following a six-game run of clean sheets in the competition.

However, despite that, it hardly takes away from the job Eddie Howe has done at St. James’ Park, turning them from potential relegation fodder to realistic hopefuls of finishing the 2022-23 campaign with both silverware, and a place in next season’s Champions League.

Even before the start of this season, signs of Newcastle’s, and Howe’s improvement were evident following the takeover and his subsequent appointment in November 2021. From a 3-3 draw with Brentford in his first game in charge, he would take them from 20th to 11th come the end of May, although their form at that time was that of a top-six side:

The improvement was evident as the Magpies would go from one of the leakiest defences to one much more stubborn, thanks not only to new arrivals on the pitch like Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Bruno Guimarães, but also in the shape of Dan Ashworth – their new Sporting Director who has helped oversee this upheaval.

Despite their progression, few foresaw where Newcastle would be at this stage of the season, having both reached their first major cup final since 1999 in the FA Cup, as well as occupying a coveted place in the top four.

Astute summer acquisitions of Nick Pope from a relegated Burnley and Sven Botman from Lille, a winner of Ligue 1 in 2020-21, have helped reinforce the foundations laid by Howe and co. the previous campaign to become one of the staunched defences in Europe’s big five leagues.

Pope himself has enjoyed an excellent campaign. As mentioned previously, he kept clean sheets in six successive Premier League games between November 2022 and January 2023 as part of a 10-game run overall, the longest by a Premier League shot-stopper in all competitions since Edwin van der Sar in February 2009 (run of 12).

In the Premier League this season, only Alisson (8.4) and Bernd Leno (6.4) have prevented more goals than the Newcastle goalkeeper among those in the position with 1,500 minutes played (3.4), with the England international making timely stops to help maintain their impressive record.

While the defensive achievements of Newcastle certainly stack up well among some of the best sides the competition has seen in recent times, the Magpies are on course for one of the best such finishes overall in the competition.

Their own current record of 15 clean sheets in 1993-94 (a 42-game season) and 2011-12 looks set to be blown out the water, while the number of goals conceded per game in 2022-23 (0.59) sees them among the elite when it comes to sides of yesteryear:

Of the five sides currently above them, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2004-05 and 2005-06 make up two of the five placings, with their competition record of just 15 goals conceded in his first season set to stand firm for some time.

Liverpool’s 98-point winning team of 2018-19, Manchester United’s league and Champions League winners of 2007-08 and Arsenal’s 1998-99 side that featured the likes of Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn are the only other sides currently above the Magpies – esteemed company for a manger in Howe whose Bournemouth side in the competition conceded 1.7 goals per game during his time there.

Most notably, none of those sides mentioned finished outside the top two positions in the Premier League that season, let alone outside the top four. Indeed, Manchester United in 2016-17 have the best such rate (0.76) despite finishing outside the top four, finishing sixth under that man Mourinho again.

Times are definitely changing on Tyneside, for the better, as Howe looks to steer Newcastle to heights not enjoyed since the 90s and early 2000s, with the former Bournemouth as bullish as his defence has been this season on expectations:

“We’re not here to be popular; we’re here to compete”.