Before a ball was kicked this weekend, very few fans and pundits alike would have predicted that a draw against relegation-battling Birmingham would be enough to see Newcastle extend their lead at the top of the table, but that’s exactly how it panned out.
Third placed Huddersfield were hammered by Bristol City on Friday whilst Brighton lost to Leeds on Saturday evening, meaning Rafa Benitez’s side didn’t suffer too much damage by failing to win at St Andrews.
Newcastle were without a few regular starters as Ciaran Clark missed out due to injury , whilst Dwight Gayle and Jonjo Shelvey started on the bench.
In the end, it was just ‘one of those days’ as a goal was harshly ruled out before Tomasz Kuszczak made a great save from a Daryl Murphy effort.
Here’s how I rated the Magpies after the game:
