It will never last...but will it?

After watching the Magpies defeat of Stoke last night, Sky Sports standardly showed the league table as it stands. Going up, the likes of Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and even Chelsea are underneath Newcastle, riding high in third, a point behind Manchester United. Third place? After the turmoil of the summer and the exile of the key senior clique, who could possibly have thought that the Toon would be where they are? The majority of neutrals say with a degree of confidence, “it won’t last”, but many are starting to think that it actually could.

Demba Ba’s hat-trick took his season tally to eight, showing that more than  satisfactory  progress has been made towards solving the infamous striker dilemma that the side had over the summer. Yohan Cabaye has more than filled the boots of Joey Barton, proving to be one the best bargains of the summer. Four million with his current form looks like it should have been at least ten, and his two screamers against Wigan and Blackburn has showed that his playmaking can easily turn into goal scoring. The return of Hartem Ben Arfa and injury-prone Danny Guthrie has even given Alan Pardew a selection head-ache, showing that the midfield unit has the potential to take on many of the best in the league.

However it is the solid, wall like defence that has proved to be Newcastle’s biggest point of success. With the departure of Jose Enrique over the summer, many were sceptical about how the defence could perform consistently in the premiership, but the very small goals against record (the best in the league) has again proved otherwise. The love of many of the Geordie faithful’s life, Fabrico Coloccini has been solid as a rock at the back, and is arguably the best full back in the league based on current form. Free-kick extraordinaire Ryan Taylor, has turned left-back extraordinaire, managing to keep expensive signing Davide Santon out of the side.

Last but not least is statistically Newcastle’s best player, Tim Krul. Despite a few shaky moments on Monday night he has seemed to have caught every cross within his vicinity since the start of the season, with only the best strikes managing to find the back of the net. The question of who would be Newcastle’s first choice keeper at the start of the season was a contentious one. Eventually, veteran Steve Harper was forced out of the side in favour of the Dutchman, who has proved to be nothing but a rock-like force in between the posts.

“It won’t last”. Pessimism gets you know where and if the current performances are anything to go by, optimism is seemingly getting the Magpies somewhere. It is common knowledge that the Britannia Stadium is a hard place to visit and get a result, and for Newcastle to take three so convincingly shows that third place isn’t is as surprising as it sounds. There is still a video of Shola scoring at the Nou Camp, maybe he will be doing the same next year.