Monday night football for Newcastle United fans.
An 8pm kick-off at the CBS Arena tonight against Coventry City.
Newcastle United knowing that a win would take them into the Premier League top four.
The most recent United away match was also on a Monday night thanks to Sky Sports.
That ended up in a 4-1 hammering by Leeds United as everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Nico Gonalez picking up a concussion inside seven minutes, then a double deflection by two Newcastle players left Lukas Hornicek helpless to prevent the crucial opening goal. It all unravelled from there.
If you think this Monday night football nightmare was a freak one, think again.
Newcastle United fans look away now as the history of playing away from home in the Premier League on a Monday night makes scary reading.
Since September 2002, a period of over 24 years, Newcastle United have played 30 Premier League matches away from home on a Monday night (this doesn’t include those played on Bank Holiday Mondays or festive season games).
These last 30 away Monday night Premier League matches across 24+ years have produced four wins, six draws and twenty defeats!
The four winning exceptions out of the last thirty were:
Stoke 1 Newcastle 3 (October 2011)
Burnley 1 Newcastle 2 (November 2018)
West Ham 0 Newcastle 1 (March 2025)
Leicester 0 Newcastle 3 (April 2025)
I suppose that we have to also acknowledge that most of this Monday night away misery happened under the evil Mike Ashley regime, out of these last 30 Monday night Premier League away games there were 24 of them during the FCB era that produced only two wins, five draws and seventeen defeats.
If you are desperately looking for Monday night away positives, Newcastle United have won two of the four since Mike Ashley sold up.
We had better get used to the idea of Monday night football this season, two of the first three EPL away games have been pushed to the Monday night slot by Sky Sports and Everton at home the same on 2 November 2026.
For the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham, especially the fans of these clubs, there is a hidden blow to finding their teams not in Europe.
The Monday night curse.
There is a kind of rule, a supposed limit, that no Premier League clubs can be picked more than five times by Sky Sports for their live matches across Monday and Friday nights throughout the season.
Needless to say, this rule/limit doesn’t mean anything.
Last (2025/26) season Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham were all playing in Europe, three of nine Premier League clubs who did so.
Those nine clubs who were in Europe last season, it largely shielded them from most Friday and Monday slots due to their midweek games in the Champions League etc.
So the Premier League clubs not in European competition and with the biggest fanbases absorb so many of the unpopular picks.
BBC Sport published a report on 30 March 2026 that showed how many times the various Premier League clubs had ended up selected for Friday and Monday night broadcasts. By that point Tottenham hadn’t been selected for any Friday or Monday night TV slots, whilst Chelsea had been chosen for one Friday night and no Monday night ones.
Newcastle United had been chosen for one of each, Liverpool at home on a Monday night and Man U away on a Friday. However, the Liverpool game at St James’ Park was a Monday night in August 2025 before the Champions League fixtures started, whilst the Old Trafford game was a one-off on Boxing Day night. Newcastle United ended up not playing any other Friday or Monday night matches in the Premier League for Sky Sports.
In that BBC Sport report on 30 March 2026 it was a very different case for certain other clubs, ones who weren’t in European competition but have the largest fanbases and/or seen as most glamorous by Sky Sports.
By 30 March 2026 the combined Friday night and Monday night Sky Sports selections showed by that point: Manchester United 8 (2 Friday and 6 Monday), Everton 7 (0 Friday and 7 Monday), West Ham 7 (3 Friday and 4 Monday), Leeds 6 (3 Friday and 3 Monday).
The 2026/27 season, it was pretty much inevitable that Sky Sports would be largely feasting on Newcastle United, Chelsea and Tottenham when it comes to making their selections for Friday night and Monday night football, especially once the European fixtures come around and nine other EPL clubs are involved in the three UEFA competitions.