NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United are making a name for themselves in the Premier League this season — but it is a moniker they would ideally want to avoid.
Many see United not as European contenders or top six breakers, but as the top flight’s “draw specialists” after they recorded their fifth draw in their opening seven games.
For Eddie Howe, against his former club, it yet again feels like two points dropped, rather than one gained. And when you hit a cherry-red wall, you need a spark or some quality to break it down — and for Newcastle, as has been the case so often this season, they have found themselves wanting in that department yet again — that, despite the return to the side of Brazilian midfielder maestro Bruno Guimaraes.
Howe’s men fell behind in the 62nd minute when Philip Billing poked home a cross from the left against the run of play. United bit back almost instantaneously as Alexander Isak hammered home from the spot, but that proved to be the final decisive action of yet another frustrating Tyneside encounter, just a fortnight after a similarly blunt draw, and opportunity missed, against Crystal Palace.