This is when I really knew that Newcastle United had become feared by the usual suspects | OneFootball

It was a strangely beautiful moment as a Newcastle United fan.

Eddie Howe’s team losing 1-0 at Arsenal on 18 May 2025.

I was gutted that United had lost the match of course, as it meant we still weren’t quite over the Champions League qualifying line just yet.

However, it was the reaction, the comments, I saw and heard after this match two weeks ago at the Emirates…

This is/was when I really knew that Newcastle United had become feared by the usual suspects.

Fans of so many other clubs, not just mackems, also many supporters of the ‘Premier League Big Six’ clubs, finding it hilarious that Newcastle United had somehow lost away at Arsenal.

As I say, I was obviously gutted that Newcastle hadn’t won, or got at least a draw, but this post-match reaction was quite mind blowing. So many fans of rival clubs going on like this was almost a humiliation, failing to win away at Arsenal. Talk of Newcastle United ‘bottling it’ in this match.

This is Arsenal who were favourites to finish runners-up and did, who had just came back to draw 2-2 at Anfield in the previous Premier League match, the same Arsenal who had won home and away against Real Madrid in a 5-1 aggregate triumph in the Champions League quarter-finals, then also the better team in both games against eventual winners PSG but hilariously failing to take advantage and turn that into goals to reach the final.

Yet it was some kind of supposed shock result that not just Newcastle hadn’t got a draw BUT that NUFC hadn’t actually won the game.

Many Arsenal fans were predicting a Newcastle win, as well as countless neutrals. All of this despite the huge financial advantages the Gunners have, how much their squad cost to build, their wage bill, as well as a long established and very well resourced longstanding production line bringing through young talent.

If Newcastle United had won that match, they would have became the first ever team to defeat Arsenal four times in the same season.

We all know that the ‘Premier League Big Six’ have always feared Newcastle United more than any other club, as the one which could smash their cosy set-up, which saw them becoming ever more powerful and richer, the gap growing ever wider to the rest.

How they all loved Mike Ashley!

As the Premier League Big Six rowed as fast as possible towards long-term power and success, investing on and off the pitch wherever possible, Mike Ashley was rowing Newcastle United in the opposite direction for a decade and a half!

That is no more.

Look for example at Eddie Howe and Newcastle United this past season against the ‘Big Six’, United winning home and away against both Man U and Spurs, winning three times against Arsenal, beating Chelsea twice, defeating Liverpool in a cup final and drawing 3-3 in an epic SJP draw where if anybody deserved to win it was NUFC, then coming back to draw 1-1 at home to Man City when again I though United edged it.

These half dozen clubs and their fanbases all knew that if Newcastle United and their fanbase were given the opportunity, then they would be a huge threat long-term.

The thing is, this has already been a relatively long-term thing, almost from the moment we got rid of Ashley and Bruce ambitious new owners and a stellar choice as the new manager.

An excellent article on The Mag from Jim Robertson backed all of this up on Sunday.

Amongst the stats included in the article, it showed how many points all of the top clubs have accumulated these past three and a half seasons/years, a huge sample group as it is the last 133 Premier League matches for each club.

The points total for the Premier League clubs over the last 133 PL games:

294 Manchester City

283 Liverpool

278 Arsenal

235 Newcastle United

218 Aston Villa

201 Manchester United

199 Tottenham

196 Chelsea

There is surely no doubt now that Newcastle United are THE massive threat to the rest.

As that article yesterday on The Mag also pointed out…

‘Quite remarkable, especially considering the worst ever season for injuries in Newcastle United history across the 2023/24 PL season and the Sandro Tonali suspension that campaign as well.

Whilst it is also two years since Eddie Howe was able to bring in a new first team contender due to PSR and had to sell two of the club’s best young talents last summer.

Not forgetting as well, most of the Premier League clubs you see above, having much larger wage bills than Newcastle and also have spent more on their squads.’

Eddie Howe has achieved all of this with such a small group of players on a relatively modest budget compared to many rivals and now has the chance again finally to add more real quality this summer.

Yes, Newcastle United may have ‘bottled it’ this past season when ‘only’ winning a trophy and qualifying for the Champions League, but everybody is keeping an eye on what NUFC may well do next AND fear it.