Past the halfway mark of the season and Newcastle United continue to compete on all fronts. 32 points from 21 games put the Magpies a mere point out of what will likely be the Champions League spots. Plus, the club was still in all of the cup competitions, despite the late turbulence of the summer window. Now, the club is on track to enjoy another strong campaign.
Newcastle Tipped to Go Far
Looking at the odds for betting on sports online, you can see that Newcastle United remain in the hunt for prestigious placing and silverware. To finish in the top five, they get odds of 15/8, ahead of Brentford and Manchester United.
Now, using the ACCAs calculator for all of Newcastle’s outright odds shows that it’s a huge long shot for the club to add multiple trophies this season. Even so, getting to the semi-finals of the League Cup gave Newcastle an 11/2 shot at the crown, while 40/1 odds to win the Champions League placed them as the joint-ninth favourites.
After the chaotic scenes in the FA Cup’s Third Round, another trip to Wembley Stadium also remains on the cards. Beating fellow Premier League team Bournemouth on penalties after a 3-3 battle put United in at 12/1 to hoist the trophy, only behind Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester City.
In the Champions League, the team has a chance to finally get a win against PSV. To date, the head-to-head reads two wins for PSV with a total margin of 3-0. PSV are running riot in the Eredivisie this season, but the short trip to the Netherlands is certainly preferred to flying out to Turkey, Czechia, or Kazakhstan at the end of January.
Is There a Need to Reinforce this Season?
The summer transfer window was pretty unsettling for the St James’ Park residents. Liverpool and star player Alexander Isak waited until the very end of the window to fork up and make the transfer happen. Isak’s late replacements are fine players, but the switch required Newcastle to find a new way to play going forward.
It’s been a long process, but the team has pulled together to adapt, and now, Newcastle United look like a top team once more. So, should the club target further reinforcements in the winter window. January is notoriously difficult for teams that want to pay fair prices for players worthy of a starting XI spot.
This is something that Eddie Howe is very aware of, citing the “value for money” argument when questioned on 12 January. A surge of injuries along the backlines may cause Newcastle to be more active in the winter window, given how many fronts they continue to fight on. Then, there’s the overall age question about the squad.
Nick Pope, Fabian Schär, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, and Jacob Murphy have all performed well this season. However, they’re all over 30-years-old, and only Burn and Pope have started at least 15 games of the first 31. With three of those being defenders and injury issues expected to rise with age, getting in a new face now seems ideal.
Even with the summer transfer window turbulence and the continued turnover behind the scenes at NUFC, 2025/26 has the makings of another strong season of progress.
However, the window does offer an opportunity to draw in a future starting XI defender and ease them into the team while they provide cover for the rest of 2025/26.
