Up Next: Leicester - Is there a turning of the tide after horrendous early-season SJP fixture list?

This could easily come back to haunt me at 5pm on Saturday... but not since the opening day against Southampton have Newcastle had a home tie against opposition which on paper, they should comfortably win.

And I include West Ham United in that assessment. Their squad is littered with quality and almost as many big-money signings as ours. Bowen... Paqueta... Kudus... Kilman... Summerville... they would all be able to stake a decent claim for a spot in our team. Some pundits fancied them as outside European contenders and a few even placed them higher than us in their preseason table predictions.

However, like Newcastle, West Ham have been flat and terribly disappointing on the whole this season. But with the arrival of lowly (albeit, slightly rejuvenated) Leicester, the fortunes and the fixture list could be slowly changing in our favour.

Newcastle have played six Premier League home games since that opening day victory over Southampton. Those six games have included four of the infamous "Superleague Six", one against the aforementioned expensively assembled West Ham, as well as a tricky fixture against perennial 'cat amongst the pigeons' Brighton. It's been a tough hand in the fixture list; along with bananaskin away games at high-fliers Bournemouth, Fulham and Brentford as well.

In layman's terms, we've already played four of last season's top five at home this season. If Eddie Howe stands any chance of rescuing European football this season, you've got to hope we can start picking off teams below us at home. And with perhaps the exceptions of Arsenal and Wolves, Newcastle probably have the easiest home fixtures remaining of any team in the league.

Jamie Vardy could be licking his lips at the recent form of Newcastle's ageing centre-backs...

Up next, it's a Leicester side who are enjoying their new manager bounce, with four points from two games. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Interestingly, those points have come against two teams who in turn, shafted Newcastle at SJP. West Ham managed 31 shots (10 on target) against the Foxes in their own stadium, while Brighton decided to hit the self-destruct button in the 86th minute to ship two late goals after being on course to coast past Leicester in second gear.

There are goals to be had against this Leicester defence, which has already conceded 30 this season (an average of two per game) and has looked appallingly slow and static at times.

Unfortunately, you could throw the same accusation at Newcastle's defence, which has conceded the 4th most goals in the Premier League in the calendar year of 2024. Simply pathetic.

Fabian Schar and Dan Burn both turn 33 this season, and at times, it's felt like we've had a pair of Casemiros at the back, as harsh as that sounds. Both have been great servants to the club, but when you're fancying the pace of a 37-year old Jamie Vardy against them, there's no room for complacency. Both Brighton and West Ham have shown exactly what digging in with a low block and hitting Newcastle quickly on the break can do at SJP.

But this is Leicester City; everyone's favourites to go down following the departure of their league-winning manager and local hero/midfield talisman Keirnan Dewsbury-Hall, as well as numerous injuries and FFP unrest. There is simply no shirking it; Newcastle have to win this game... otherwise the fanbase's confidence in the team will be at an all time low under Eddie Howe's largely positive tenure. Even last season, when half the squad was on the injury table and Howe had to turn to the likes of a 34-year old Matt Ritchie and a 17-year old Lewis Miley... Newcastle were smashing lower table teams by three... four... even EIGHT goal margins at times.

If it turns into a basketball game between two teams lacking midfield stability and defensive solidity, you hope Newcastle can outscore the Foxes on our own patch...

An attitude problem or simply a lack of guile to break down a low block? What is behind this incredibly frustrating 'inconsistent' tag?

The optimism is that Newcastle have navigated a prickly set of home fixtures that included the three pre-season title favourites in Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, as well as expensively-assembled Spurs, Brighton and West Ham. The record with these games is Won 2, Drew 2, Lost 2. There is no better way of putting it than the football cliche of 'consistently inconsistent'. How can we remain unbeaten and emerge with eight points from a possible 12 from games against last season's top five... yet implode against a West Ham side with a manager in crisis?

Much has been made of Newcastle turning up against the big teams but floundering against the smaller ones. Alan Shearer has pointed towards an attitude problem, but I simply don't see it that way. Eddie Howe always demands 100% effort. It's more his tactics (and the staleness of them) that I think smaller teams are exploiting.

Unfortunately for Howe, he's overseen a side that has had to adapt from relegation fodder underdogs to Champions League hopefuls in the space of just a few seasons. A key aspect that worked in our favour during the season we took 4th spot was that teams still underrated us; they came at us, with players such as Alexander Isak, Miguel Almiron, Jacob Murphy and Joelinton revelling in the space that gave us on the counter. But even towards the end of that impressive 22-23 campaign, there were signs that teams were coming to SJP for a 0-0... and many of them (Crystal Palace, Leeds, Leicester) got it. Two of those teams were relegated that season.

Howe's whole 'Intensity is our Identity' ethos, and the recruitment drive towards players that were industrious, aggressive and direct (Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes) pointed towards a team that still wanted to hurt teams on the counter and capitalise on turnovers. You could argue the one player who offered the guile and trickery on the ball to unlock stubborn defences was the player sacrificed in the 2023 summer transfer window... Allan Saint-Maximin. The temperamental Frenchman was not without his critics (and understandably so), but could he have offered the maverick plan B and something different against watertight backlines?

Howe's usual tactic of simply out-running teams doesn't work when the opposition lets you have the ball and beats you at your own game. Gordon, Isak, Willock... pacey as they are... it counts for nothing against a backs-to-the wall low block with no space to run into. It's clear Eddie Howe needs a plan B, an experiment with formation or personnel that gives us a new edge against these defensive sides.

There are still only five points separating Newcastle from Aston Villa in 6th spot. A Villa side, as it happens, that visits St James' Park in just two weeks' time on Boxing Day. Now is the time to build some momentum with games coming thick and fast. The three hardest home games are done and dusted with now. Let's show everyone else in the league that we can still be a formidable force at home... starting with Leicester.