Newcastle United took until March 10 to reach nudge past the 30-point mark last season and it is clear that this term will be the first for almost a decade they won't be dicing with relegation.
It was actually the 2-1 win at Southampton in the 27th match of the season that Newcastle move on to 31 points in the last campaign but here they are after 15 matches with 30 points to their name already. For context only the Kevin Keegan Entertainers team in 1995/96 that finished second have had more points at this stage when the Magpies had 38 on the board after 15 games.
Eddie Howe's men currently have one more than the Toon team that finished second in 1996/97 at the same stage and qualified for the Champions League under Kenny Dalglish, three more points than Sir Bobby Robson in 2001/02 when the club finished fourth and three more than the team that finished third in 2002/03.
