Not only did Newcastle United pick up a stunning three points at St James' Park by beating Tottenham 4-0 in Saturday's early kick-off, but Bruno Guimaraes delivered on a four-month-old promise.
After a string of four games in a row where Bruno Guimaraes picked up a booking, the Brazilian has been on nine yellow cards for the season. One more and he'd pick up a two-game suspension.
The last booking came on 13th January in the 3-2 defeat to Manchester City, after which Bruno made a promise to Eddie Howe that nobody thought he could keep.
Saturday's game against Tottenham was the last game in which a booking would see Bruno slapped with a two-game suspension before the slate is wiped clean.
Despite getting into it with Giovani Lo Celso as he was coming off the pitch in second-half stoppage time, Bruno Guimaraes managed to keep himself out of the referee's book for the 11th Premier League game in a row.
Speaking to TNT Sport after the game, Eddie Howe revealed that he'd sat Bruno down after he picked up his ninth yellow and asked him to keep his nose clean when Bruno promised he wouldn't get booked again.
"It's an incredible thing. So we had a meeting about it. He was on nine, he had loads of games to go. I said 'Look, Bruno, we need you to stay away from the suspension'.
"He said 'Gaffer, I promise I will not get booked' and I looked at him and I thought 'no'. And he made that promise and it's a very difficult thing to do because in a game it can happen like that without really thinking about it and he's managed to navigate his way through that period. He's done it for the group because he knows his importance."
With how much of Newcastle's play goes through Bruno and how competitive he is, naturally, it's amazing to see him come through so many games without picking up another caution.
Now we need to see if he keeps it up now that he's off the leash because in truth, it hasn't affected the way he plays at all.
Newcastle now have a hefty gap in which to recover before the next game against Crystal Palace which should allow a few players to work on their fitness and be back in the squad to continue this amazing run of form, right as other teams around us are struggling. Could we even steal fifth? Okay, I'll calm down.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |