Red cards, mixed results and high drama: How Newcastle United have started the last five Premier League campaigns

Everyone wants to get the season off to a winning start, but at Newcastle United, that very rarely seems to happen.
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A summer of optimism, or despair, is all forgotten when that whistle blows.

So how have Newcastle United started each of their last five campaigns, who made their starting team, and did they send their supporters home happy and full of optimism? We cast our minds back...

West Ham United 0 - 2 Newcastle United (Callum Wilson 56’, Jeff Hendrick 88’) – September 2020.

Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce.Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce.
Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce.
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Newcastle United Team: Karl Darlow, Javi Manquillo, Federico Fernandez, Jamaal Lascelles, Jamal Lewis, Isaac Hayden, Jeff Hendrick, Jonjo Shelvey, Allan Saint-Maximin (Joelinton 75’), Callum Wilson (Miguel Almirón 85’), Andy Carroll (Sean Longstaff 88’)

Newcastle opened last season in-front of an empty London Stadium and came away with a hard-earned but impressive 2-0 victory.

Despite the hosts hitting the bar twice in the first-half, Newcastle controlled the game and struck through debutant Callum Wilson ten minutes into the second-half.

A perfect day for Steve Bruce’s men was rounded off by another debutant Jeff Hendrick whose shot nestled into the top corner and sealed Newcastle’s winning start to the season.

Newcastle United 0 - 1 Arsenal (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 58’) – August 2019

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Newcastle United Team: Martin Dúbravka, Javi Manquillo, Fabian Schär, Jamaal Lascelles, Paul Dummett, Isaac Hayden, Jonjo Shelvey (Jetro Willems 54’), Sean Longstaff (Allan Saint-Maximin 67’), Miguel Almirón, Matt Ritchie, Joelinton

Steve Bruce was handed a tough test in his first game in charge of Newcastle, facing beaten Europa League finalists Arsenal.

A bright start by Newcastle had subsided by half-time and in the second-half they never really got going again.

Confusion struck when Jetro Willems was introduced for his Newcastle debut with no-one truly knowing where the Dutchman was playing.

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Arsenal capitalised on this and scored clinically through Aubameyang to seal Newcastle’s fate on a rainy day at St James’s Park.

Newcastle United 1 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur (Joselu 11’) - (Jan Vertonghen 8’, Dele Alli 18’) – August 2018

Newcastle United Team: Martin Dúbravka, DeAndre Yedlin, Jamaal Lascelles, Ciaran Clark, Paul Dummett, Jonjo Shelvey, Mo Diamé, Matt Ritchie (Christian Atsu 69’), Ayoze Pérez (Yoshinori Mutō 81’), Kenedy, Joselu (Salomón Rondón 59’)

A blistering start to this game saw all three goals scored in the first 18 minutes.

Poor marking from a corner allowed Vertonghen to finish for the first goal with the help of goal line technology.

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However, just minutes later Newcastle had drawn level through Spanish striker Joselu and there were plenty of promising signs they could kick-on from this early setback.

It was not to be unfortunately as Dele Alli seized upon some more poor Newcastle marking to score what would turn out to be the winning goal - celebrated with that season’s must-try celebration.

Newcastle United 0 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur (Dele Alli 61’, Ben Davies 70’) – August 2017

Newcastle United Team: Rob Elliott, Javi Manquillo, Florian Lejeune (Chancel Mbemba 34’), Ciaran Clark, Paul Dummett (Jamaal Lascelles 7’), Jonjo Shelvey, Isaac Hayden, Matt Ritchie, Ayoze Pérez, Christian Atsu, Dwight Gayle (Mikel Merino 76’)

This game was dominated by red cards given, red cards that should have been given and injuries aplenty for the Toon.

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Having beaten Spurs 5-1 in their last Premier League game before relegation, hopes were high Rafa Benitez’s men could get their campaign off to a winning start.

Those hopes were quickly dampened when Paul Dummett was injured early on and replaced by a not yet fit Jamaal Lascelles.

This was compounded when a horror-challenge from Harry Kane forced Florian Lejeune to miss the rest of the game, and most of the season, only a yellow card was shown to the England striker.

Atmosphere inside St James’s hit boiling point when petulance from Jonjo Shelvey saw him sent off just after half-time, opening the door for Spurs to capitalise, and they did just that through Dele Alli and Ben Davies.

Fulham 1 - 0 Newcastle United (Matt Smith 45’) – August 2016

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Newcastle United Team: Matz Sels, Daryl Janmaat, Jamaal Lascelles, Grant Hanley, Paul Dummett, Vurnon Anita, Jack Colback (Rolando Aarons 61’), Isaac Hayden (Jonjo Shelvey 77’), Matt Ritchie, Ayoze Pérez (Adam Armstrong 70’), Dwight Gayle

Newcastle’s return to the Championship started with a bump at Craven Cottage, going down 1-0 through a goal from Matt Smith.

In one of United’s worst performances of the season, they rarely got going in London and failed to raise hopes that this season would see them bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Fortunately, this game was not a sign of things to come.

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