Paullow

Forgot they were playing, but Drogba has equalised for Sunderland against Blackpool. 20 mins left, but they look well on top judging by the stats so will probably go on to win it.

Obviously a fair few on here don't like them, but if Villa continue to improve and strengthen then it can only be good for the PL generally - soon pretty much every game week there'll be a 'big' / intriguing fixture to look forward to, and less seemingly foregone conclusions. I'm just pleased we've got our house in order as if we were still under Bruce and Ashley battling for 14-17th every season then I would have been jealous of what they might have going on there

I'd make Liverpool and Man Utd favourites for top 4 (assuming 2 spots have gone), but if we can finish above one, or both, of Spurs and Chelsea then that would be fantastic. I'll still hope that the aforementioned former 2 drop points while we're very much in contention, but definitely have more eyes on those two London clubs results at the moment. Impressive turnaround by Villa - just shows what an upgraded manager can do.

The Trippier confusion is due to the yellow card he picked up against Bournemouth in the League Cup, but yellows in that competition don't count towards the league, so he is fine to play against Arsenal, although presumably (like Schaar) now one booking away from a PL suspension (not sure when the 5 PL yellow card expiry date is).

I expect a defeat, but wouldn't it be fantastic if we could repeat that 1-3 win in December 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1711251.stm https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/premier-league/18-december-2001/ We've actually got more points this season from our 17 games, and a much better GD (scored more, conceded less) then when we went top of the league on that great evening.

Wow 3-4.

That's the end of 2022 for Newcastle United. A year that started poorly with that shock FA Cup defeat, and then late dropped points at home to Watford, but what a year overall: 21 wins, only 6 defeats, exactly 2 points per game. Only 31 goals conceded, and 13 of those were in 3 games, so just 18 in the other 33. 16 clean sheets, and amazingly, only conceded more than one goal 4 times (Man City x 2, Liverpool and Spurs). Quite astonishing stats really. Oh, and a winnable home cup QF to come as well.

I was ill last year on NYE and remember browsing the transfer section on here late on with all the talk of Trippier etc. I was trying to dig out the thread from this time last year, but can't find it, only this one below from Jan 9th and no permission to view the previous edition, but aye, it would certainly be interesting to read that back and see how far we have come in such a short period of time. I guess the last time we drew at home to Leeds about 15 months ago, I wouldn't have even really cared about the result.

I guess if, this time last week, someone had offered me 4 points and 2 clean sheets over the next couple of matches, I'd have taken it - I would have just assumed it would have been the other way round and a battling point at Leicester. Undoubtedly 2 points dropped, and the first disappointing result since mid September, but it's still 26 points from 30 in a period which included trips to Man Utd and Spurs and a home match with Chelsea.

To be honest, and not just a reaction after dropped points today, I'd probably rather Arsenal won than Brighton. If we can finish 4th that would be an amazing achievement, top 6 would be fantastic as well considering we'd have finished above at least one of the more established sides, which would be great this early in our resurgence. If Brighton won today and their other game in hand (Palace), they'd just be 4 points behind us.

Arsenal ahead after about a minute and 5 seconds

Who is it. Saw Sue Smith and Courtney SK mentioned on here, but Twitter suggesting Karen Carney. Unless they are different broadcasts.

Just tuned in and immediately taken off . Nice send off applause for him and a Newcastle top in the crowd.

Yeah, it is kind of selective because at the moment WBA are 9th and Norwich are 10th, but at the start of the season, the 3 relegated sides, Sheff U, WBA and Boro were clear in terms of the title and promotion odds, and their record against that lot is 1 draw and 5 defeats, so removing those results from their record, against the other 17, it is 10 wins and 6 draws from their 19 matches. I can see them sneaking into the POs, and who knows after that, but with WBA and Boro improving, and Norwich making a managerial change (please not Bruce ), maybe the expected 6 will fill actually the top 6 come the end of the season.

They're +9 now, and the clear third best GD in the league. They couldn't string back to back wins earlier in the season, but this will be their 4th win of their last 6, winning B2B twice in that period.

Boro level. They are now ahead, 2-1, and Blackburn are down to 10 men. Looking like yet another match Bburn don't draw.

Ha, you watching on the red button?

Wigan level.

I'll watch Blackpool-Sheff Utd by default. It's good that more matches are available via the red button, but I could only really watch one of those if I was properly invested as it can be a really tough watch.

They're doing well to be fair. 1-0 up against lowly Wigan, and if they win, that will be 5 from their last 8, with 3rd bottom Blackpool up next on NYD. It's obviously very tight and you can jump about 8 places with a win (like what Luton did earlier today), but they are currently 3rd in the live league table. Assuming the top 2 is already done and dusted, hopefully Watford, Norwich, WBA and Boro can all get their act together / keep improving and fill those 3-6 spots.

Saw that the other day, and bit of a misleading, clickbait headline. Tipped for the job, yet in the first paragraph says he's 30/1, and about 20 managers about him in the list. They're basically in the same position WBA were when they appointed him, albeit a couple of months earlier in the season. Can't see them being that daft.

And within a minute Burnley go 2-0 up, and pretty much ends that one as a contest as well. Was gonna watch the darts on delay at 10pm, but will probably watch earlier now, haha.

And with that, I'll switch over to Burnley vs Birmingham.

Looking like an awful set of results for Tottenham in particular. Credible draw in the end, but still dropped points, whereas 5 of the other 'better 7' who were in action all won.

He's been kissing their ass all match, it's cringey . Probably thinks that's for the best if he wants an extended commentary career.