After coming out of the most challenging period of the season relatively unscathed and three of our promotion rivals. We find our self with the challenge of playing against Fulham at home. This week marks the one year anniversary that 'Rafa wor Gaffer' stepped foot in Tyneside.

If we turn back to round 1 of the season where we made the journey to West London, our team was incredibly different to the side that will step foot on St James' Park this Saturday afternoon. That side that went down 1-0 featured the likes of Daryl Janmaat and Moussa Sissoko, two of arguably the forgotten names at Newcastle. The side that played that day were also filled with our new players who still didn't have chemistry yet.

Looking towards this week though, we face an in form Fulham side having taken 5 points from their previous three encounters and the likes of Neeskens Kebano, Chris Martin and Sone Aluko all finding the back of the net in that period. It's also right to mention that Fulham are one of the better footballing sides in the competition so they'll come to Tyneside playing good expansive football and they need three points in order to put pressure on the playoff places.

For us though picking up 7 points out of 9 against three really tough sides on the road is a massive success. As fans though we just hope that the lads can be really up for it as we'll be at home for the first time in a while and in addition to that Jamaal Lascelles said midweek that it's time for us to really improve our home form as its been one of the few weaknesses throughout the season. Make sure to get yourself down to St. James' Park this Saturday and make the atmosphere fantastic for Rafa and hostile for the visitors. HOWAY THE LADS!