Newcastle United quietly reach Premier League milestone – without 'irreplaceable' player

That milestone is only normally reached in the final weeks of a campaign – if at all.

Eddie Howe’s side were yesterday held to a 1-1 draw at St James’s Park by West Ham United.

The Premier League fixture followed the fourth-placed club’s Carabao Cup success over Southampton four days earlier.

Newcastle fans haven’t had it so good in a long time.

Yet there was palpable frustration and disappointment at the final whistle that Newcastle hadn’t been able to beat David Moyes’ relegation-threatened side after taking a third-minute lead.

In truth, they were nowhere near their best with the ball – and, unusually for them, they conceded a sloppy goal from a set-piece.

Talking about Bruno

Declan Rice bossed the midfield for spells, and Howe admitted that midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, serving the first game of a three-match ban for his tackle on Southampton’s Sam Edozie on Tuesday night, had been “missed”.

Howe do you replace a player who is “irreplaceable”?

“I think we missed Bruno, but we were always going to miss Bruno, because he’s so unique and slightly different,” said United’s head coach.

“But I do think our midfield players who played in his absence all played well. I don’t think it’s a criticism of them – I just think he’s irreplaceable. You’re going to miss him, and I think we missed his creative eye more than anything else.

“It was a great start for us, but we just didn’t build on that great start and that was the disappointing thing. We allowed West Ham back into the game and probably got punished for that."

Howe tried both Sean Longstaff and Joelinton in Guimaraes’ usual midfield anchor role, and it was the former who split the visitors open with a superb forward pass for Callum Wilson’s goal, his first in 11 club games.

So that’s one game down two to go for the suspended Guimaraes.

Fine margins

Howe pointed out the “small margins” in the Premier League after the game, and Guimaraes, certainly, is a player who can make the difference.

"The margins between the top and bottom teams are so small,” said Howe. “The chances were there for us to win, and I back the players that we have that if we continue to perform well, we’ll be on the right side of those margins.”

Still, United had drawn three of their four previous league games, and the Guimaraes had started all those fixtures.

"Teams, when they play us now, it's a second look at us, teams will make it difficult for us," said Howe. “West Ham wanted a tight game, the onus was on us to break them down."

Howe’s right. Teams now know Newcastle tactics and patterns. Opponents will sit deep, especially at St James’s Park.

And, of course, injuries and suspensions will hurt United more than other top-six teams given the size and depth of the squad at the club.

Also, every team has a dip, or two, each season, and the important thing is that Newcastle are still grinding out results – even when they’re not at their best.