Newcastle United are rapidly gaining admirers as their ascent up the Premier League table continues.
The Magpies have been able to put valuable breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone since the turn of the year.
With 12 points in their last six games, Eddie Howe’s side are four points outside the bottom three and are much more confident than they once were about staying in the division.
The business conducted in the January transfer window has particularly stood out with Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Matt Targett and Chris Wood all playing key roles in recent victories.
Howe’s ability to improve the players he inherited has also been vital for the run of form that Newcastle find themselves on and Sue Smith focused on the revitalisation of Ryan Fraser’s career on Tyneside when praising his head coach.
“That’s what you want from your manager,” she told the rest of the Sky Sports Soccer Saturday panel. “Yes, you’re bringing in new signings but it’s also about the players that were [already] there.
“We know the ability that Fraser’s got and, at the moment, he’s playing like he’s enjoying his football. He likes to play on the front foot, we know he’s got good delivery when he gets into those positions.
“The relationship between him and Chris Wood will certainly get better the more time that they play. He’ll make those runs off the ball into the channels, he’ll get the ball into areas and the players in and around him know what he’s going to do.”
In the win against Aston Villa and the draw against West Ham, Burn was the stand-out performer and showed exactly why Newcastle chose to bring him back to the North-east.
Michael Dawson was full of praise for the ex-Brighton defender and highlighted his debut as a moment he would have fantasising about his whole life.
“It’s what dreams are made of,” claimed the former Tottenham centre-back.
“The work that he’s put in to get to where he is today, he’s done it the hard way starting in the lower leagues and working his way up.
“To walk out at St James’ Park for the team he’s supported. What a debut it was, man of the match performance and he got the result.
“When you sign for a club, you talk about your debut, once it’s done, now he can move on.
“Credit to Eddie Howe, I was a big fan of him when he was at Bournemouth, the way he conducts himself, the way he plays and a few weeks ago I was saying I was a bit worried for Newcastle, I’m not anymore.”
The Toon Army will be desperate to witness a continuation of the recent good form over the next few weeks as Newcastle really look to assert their survival credentials.
The upcoming fixtures against Brentford and Brighton will be targeted as feasibly winnable games given the two sides’ recent results.
While the fans and players at St James’ Park will not be allowing themselves to get carried away just yet, victories in both of those matches would put the Magpies in a dominant position.
They will be well aware that games against Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal all fall in their final four fixtures of the season so the positive results will have to continue ahead of that particularly tricky schedule.
