The last time we played Leicester, we won 2-1 in what became our first win at the King Power Stadium following the Foxes’ move from Filbert Street. Jonjo Shelvey opened the scoring with Newcastle’s landmark 1,200th Premier League goal and Ayoze Perez put the game out of Leicester’s reach with an exquisite lob over Kasper Schmeichel. That win was the third in a run of four consecutive victories for the Magpies who have unfortunately failed to win away from home since.
As far as our record at home to Leicester is concerned, if the midlands club wins on Saturday, it will be the first time that they have won on three in a row at St. James’ Park since November 1965. Since then the Foxes have had some abysmal and hard hitting trips up to Tyneside including a 7-1 thrashing where Andy Cole ran riot, a 5-4 thriller in January 1990 (however they did exactly the same to us in the next meeting) and a late Alan Shearer hat-trick to complete an incredible comeback to win 4-3.
Facts and Figures
All Competitions
Newcastle wins: 51
Leicester wins: 43
Draws: 27
Premier League
Newcastle wins: 10
Leicester wins: 7
Draws: 5
Premier League at St. James’ Park
Newcastle wins: 7
Leicester wins: 3
Draws: 1
Previous ten (all competitions)
Leicester wins: 5 (13 goals)
Newcastle wins: 4 (9 goals)
Draws: 1
Biggest win: Newcastle United 7 – 1 Leicester
Biggest defeat: Newcastle United 1 – 5 Leicester
Memory Lane
Newcastle United 3 – 1 Leicester – 07/02/2004 (Premier League)
Shay Given:
Aaron Hughes:
Andy O’Brien:
Jonathan Woodgate:
Olivier Bernard: Assisted Gerry Taggart’s comical own goal. In typical Bernard style, the Frenchman beat James Scowcroft down our left wing and made it look easy. With his left footed cross, the ball awkwardly bounced on rugged-looking pitch right at Taggart’s feet. However the centre back failed to solve the mystery of a good clearance and mishit the ball as it looped onto the bar and crossed the line before Ian Walker tried to recover it. The ball crossed the line and it was a good decision from the linesman with this being in the days before the luxurious goal-line technology.
Kieron Dyer:
Jermaine Jenas: Wrapped up the win by making it 3-0 in the 59th minute after Gerry Taggart’s own goal doubled the lead in the first half. Jenas was given lots of time on the ball in the midfield, passed it forward to Hugo Viana who flicked it into Shearer’s path in the box. Shearer managed to knock a perfect cross for Jenas who was free to head home; a good goal but Leicester’s defending was dreadful in not picking up Jenas who showed a good sense of attacking instinct.
Gary Speed: This was yet another match in Speed’s excellent career that he reached a landmark. The then 34-year old made his 400th Premier League appearance in this game. Despite his age, Speed was still playing great quality football and it was a great shame when he left Tyneside to go to Bolton Wanderers after the 2003/04 season finished. After leaving Newcastle Speed went on to make a further 158 league appearances before retiring his playing career at the age of 40.
Hugo Viana:
Shola Ameobi: Opened the scoring after half an hour when Andrew Impey failed to properly clear Shay Given’s long ball upfield. The ball fell kindly to Ameobi just outside the box, struck the ball first time with his weaker left foot and managed to beat Ian Walker.
Alan Shearer: Assisted Jenas for the third goal of the afternoon to create an unassailable lead. Further poor performances from Leicester after this match saw the Foxes relegated from the top flight after achieving promotion the previous season. Of course, things got worse before they got better for Leicester as they were relegated to League One before achieving a return to the Premier League in 2014.