Aahh, Newcastle's depressing and demoralising home record reflects all about this sinking season.
After Norwich, I publicly despaired, convinced that relegation was all but inevitable having squandered so many decent opportunities to gather maximum points. No one has ever survived having failed to win one of their first 14 matches.
After Burnley, I hoped rather than believed.
Now the Magpies are back on Barrack Road's hill having been lumped by both Leicester and Liverpool since a one-dimensional Burnley provided the only victory of the season so far.
And who awaits on Sunday? Manchester City's aristocrats followed by their United same-city neighbours led by the strutting arrogance of CR7. Dead easy then!
Of course an alarmingly rising Covid crisis could yet beat any and every Premier League club cancelling matches at even a few hours' notice but officially right now City are lurking on the horizon.
Football not just Newcastle are in disarray and those in charge - the PL and the Government not TV broadcasters - must make the huge calls.
City warmed up for their Tyne visit with a seven-goal thrashing of Leeds for which we are truly grateful as it keeps relegation rivals within sight but of course it was frightening at the same time.
What concerned us greatly beforehand was whether Liverpool's pedigree attackers would likewise run riot but credit to the Mags they battled for their pride at Anfield.
Sure this was their ninth defeat in only 17 league games but they were still in it up to the death. All it emphasised of course was how costly the humiliation was at Leicester.
United held a totally unexpected lead for quarter of an hour and then were hit by two goals in a four-minute spell.
Sure, Isaac Hayden lay injured for the equaliser when the referee might have stopped play but he was hurt by his own man and the strike came so quickly afterwards that in truth we were clutching at straws as teams in dire trouble do.
Shelvey is marmite - you either love him or hate him. A wonder strike to put United ahead was followed by him giving the ball away in a crucial situation to allow the lethal Mo Salah to nose Liverpool into an inevitable lead just as he gave up the ball at Leicester which led directly to a penalty and their lead.
The worst thing to do is play a blind back pass against a pressing team like Liverpool yet that is exactly what Shelvey did. As for Martin Dubravka he was unlucky, both first-half goals coming from rebounds following saves.
For the killer third one of United's top performers had no chance against a Trent Alexander-Arnold thunderbolt.
City can play all over the park - even their keeper Ederson is as cool and accomplished with the ball at his feet as a midfield playmaker.
However, their great sides have often had a Silva lining. First it was David now it's Bernardo.
David played 436 times for City and has a statue in his honour outside the ground. Bernardo has already performed on more than 200 occasions and is their top scorer this campaign with seven PL goals.
Yet incredibly seven of United's current squad have enjoyed the uplifting experience of tucking up City in a season when they won the title too with both Silvas on the pitch.
May the lucky seven remember January 29, 2019 when after Aguero scored after only 24 seconds Newcastle went on to triumph 2-1. The seven with happy memories? Dubravka, Schar, Lascelles, Ritchie, Hayden, Longstaff and Manquillo. Ritchie had the added pleasure of scoring the winner from the penalty spot.
Mind you, I'm not expecting a repeat on Sunday!
Frank Clark will be an interested guest of honour coming up from Nottingham for a match between two of his old clubs.
Clark was in United's side which won the European Fairs Cup in '69 before going off to lift the European Cup with Brian Clough's Forest and later he managed Man City from 1996 to '98 when they were vastly different to today labouring millions of pounds in debt and needing to sell their highest-paid players.
