Where Newcastle United could now be sitting in the Premier League.
The debate having yet more fuel added to the fire this weekend.
If only Newcastle United could hold onto a lead…
Will Osula scoring at Selhurst Park just before half-time, only for then Crystal Palace to score twice late on.
With 79 minutes gone, Newcastle United ending the weekend only three points off the top six. That becoming by the final whistle United down in 14th position.
A much repeated statistic now getting so much worse.
How many points Newcastle United have dropped this season after having scored first and taken the lead.
These are those games, so far…
Newcastle 1 Arsenal 2 (see image above)
West Ham 3 Newcastle 1
Brentford 3 Newcastle 1
Newcastle 2 Spurs 2
Newcastle 2 Chelsea 2
Liverpool 4 Newcastle 1
Newcastle 2 Brentford 3
Newcastle 1 Sunderland 2
Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 1
In total, 25 points dropped from those Premier League winning positions after Newcastle United scored the first goal.
Now have a look at where those extra 25 points would have taken us…
Premier League table as at Monday 13 April 2026
Yes, with those extra 25 points, Newcastle United would now be sitting second in the table on 67 points, only three behind Arsenal. Title challengers!
Even more frustrating than that though, is the fact that even if only holding on to the lead against the Mackems and Palace in the last two matches, Newcastle United would now be tied on 48 points with sixth top Chelsea and only four points behind Liverpool and a guaranteed Champions League qualification.
The more observant of you will also recall that if the lead had been held after scoring first against Marseille, then Newcastle United would have automatically qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League and drawn somebody far less daunting than Barcelona.
Speaking of which, who knows then what may have happened if Newcastle United had seen out that home win against Barcelona, having scored first and taken the lead late on in the first leg of the last 16 Champions League tie.