OPINION
Newcastle United fell to their fourth defeat in five Premier League matches against Arsenal on Saturday, and remain staring into the abyss without a win this season.
Another 2-1 defeat to one of the division’s elite teams has left the Magpies with their wings clipped, and has made their upcoming encounter with Crystal Palace a must-win for Rafael Benitez’s side.
Experienced midfielder Mohamed Diame, on a reported £45,000-per-week at St James’ Park [Source: Spotrac], believes the worst is over though: “We had these big games in the beginning and we knew they were coming,” he told the Chronicle. “Now these games are over we are going to go into these next games and try to get that first win.
“Palace is a massively important game. We have to start to winning games, and it is going to be a good game to start that run off.”
Diame seems pretty confident that Newcastle will find their first win at Selhurst Park, and his fellow players must make sure the Senegal international isn’t left with egg on his face.
He’s right about the importance of the game, though. Newcastle fans must have known that they would have to endure a tough start to the season – that’s what happens when you play Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal in four of your first five games – but they’ll be expecting an upturn in fortunes now those tests are behind them.
That puts a lot of expectation, and desperation, onto the players ahead of the Palace game. The supporters are in massive need of a boost, and they’ll be looking for the players to deliver it at the weekend.
It’s too early in the season to label this as a make or break game for the Magpies, but the longer the wait for a win goes on the worse it will be for all on Tyneside, and they cannot afford to lose ground this early on.
Benitez will be under pressure to play more positively, too, after employing extreme defensive measures against Chelsea and City in particular recently.
The Spaniard needs to throw a few more attacking players onto the pitch at Selhurst Park in order to supply more ammunition to Salomon Rondon or Joselu.
Newcastle haven’t necessarily played poorly so far this term, indeed they’ve run each of the big boys close, but they’ve come away from those games with nothing and need to get points on the board as soon as possible.
To that end, the players must heed Diame’s words and target victory at Palace as the first in a string of positive results. Otherwise the Magpies will be left fighting for their future.
