The incredible stat that shows why Newcastle are the Premier League’s masters of consistency

Newcastle fans’ 350-mile journey from the south coast to the northeast was made more bearable by Matt Ritchie’s last-gasp equaliser against Bournemouth on Saturday.

The former Cherries man struck deep into second-half stoppage time to rescue a 2-2 draw for Rafael Benitez’s men, who moved seven points clear of the relegation zone.

Remarkably, that result at the Vitality Stadium also means that the Magpies currently have the exact same Premier League record as they did at the equivalent stage of last season.

After 31 matches in both 2017/18 and 2018/19, Newcastle had won nine games, drawn eight, lost 14, scored 31 goals and conceded 40. You can’t beat that for consistency.

Newcastle went on to collect nine more points from their final seven fixtures last time out, ending the campaign with 12 wins, eight draws, 18 defeats, 39 goals scored and 47 conceded.

Should they go on to match that record by the end of this season, we’ll probably start to suspect some sort of witchcraft at St James’ Park.