Another one bites the dust!

You could be forgiven for thinking that Newcastle got hammered at Villa Park yesterday. However, this was not the case.

I'll agree that our performance was very weak and I feel sorry for those who travelled to Birmingham yesterday and had to watch it. Mind you, it's worth bearing in mind that we only lost the game because Villa were slightly less worse than us. We didn't really get dominated for any long periods although it was glaringly obvious that we were never going to score given the lack of quality and options within the squad.

It's worth bearing in mind though that whilst it is always disappointing to suffer a defeat, we are still on track for our goal of securing Premier League football for next season. That was the aim at the start of the season, and we look like we are going to achieve that.

This weekend was a nothing game really in terms of Newcastle United and the relegation race. None of the current bottom three gained any points and nobody above them managed to overtake us. In that sense this weekend was a 'gimme'. Sure it was a chance to put a bit more daylight between us and the struggling pack, but ultimately it didn't matter and we finish the weekend as we started it - both in points and league position.

It's another game gone for us, but most importantly it's another game gone for those at the bottom who can catch us. The maximum points that West Ham and Wolves can now get is 18, however unlikely that may be. That means that Newcastle need seven points to mathematically assure safety.

So how does the next round of fixtures look? Obviously we don't play until next Tuesday, but the rest of the league are in action over the weekend. Let's take an early look at their fixtures.

Birmingham v Sunderland.
Blackpool v Wigan.
Everton v Blackburn.
West Brom v Chelsea.
West Ham v Aston Villa.

That's all the teams below us, and once again not all of them can win and consequently not all of them can gain ground on us. It's probably a good job really as we face Manchester United, but hopefully it will be another game chalked off with nothing gained on us.

I still think one win will do it and will be enough for us to assure our Premier league status. And with players like Cheik Tiote, Kevin Nolan and Stephen Ireland ready to come back into the team for the run in I'm pretty sure we'll get it.

Hopefully sooner rather than later!