Crunch time for Robson's ambitions

Robson has revitalised Newcastle in his three years

By BBC Sport Online's Tom Fordyce

A week might not be a long time in a season that lasts 11 months, but the next seven days could decide the fate of Newcastle's entire campaign.

On Saturday they meet Arsenal in the Premiership; on Wednesday they travel to Liverpool; and three days further on, the Gunners return for an FA Cup quarter-final.

That Newcastle enter this period with two of their most influential players missing lends another interesting ingredient to an already spicy stew.

  Newcastle's big week

Sat 1 March: Arsenal at home (Premiership)

Wed 5 March: Liverpool away (Premiership)

Sat 8 March: Arsenal at home (FA Cup)

Bobby Robson has spent the last four months decrying his side's chance of winning the Premiership.

As the weeks have gone by and the points piled up, it has become harder and harder to take the old rascal seriously.

Now comes the real test.

After Newcastle's 3-1 win over his side last month, Southampton manager Gordon Strachan remarked, "As long as Shearer and Bellamy can stay healthy, Newcastle will be all right."

Strachan was simply pointing out that Newcastle, of all the title contenders, can least afford to lose their key men.

Man United, Arsenal and Liverpool all have a strength in depth that Robson can at the moment only envy.

Bellamy's loss through injury will hit Newcastle hard

The loss of Bellamy to a knee injury and Kieron Dyer's continued absence with a stress fracture of the foot doesn't just take away two sources of chances and goals.

It forces Robson to adopt a radical overhaul of the team's tactics, at a stage of the season when he can least afford to start making changes.

Neither Shola Ameobi nor Carl Cort can match the pace of Bellamy up front.

And with Dyer also certain to miss the crunch games ahead, that leaves Newcastle stripped of their main weapon this season - lightning-fast pace.

It was Newcastle's ability to break quickly which lay at the heart of the 3-1 win over Arsenal at Highbury in December, a result that caused many of us to think of them as serious challengers for the first time.

Without that asset, and with the Gunners coming off the back of a fine midweek performance in the Champions League, Robson could be forgiven for dreading the week ahead.

Would Sol Campbell rather deal with the physical presence of Alan Shearer or the pace of Bellamy? You decide.

In Newcastle's favour, Arsenal have not won a league game at St James' since December 1997, when Ian Wright's goal clinched all three points.

Managerial skills

It is a mark of the strength of Robson's management that the club's form has been unaffected by the off-the-field misdemeanours of several players.

Midfielder Jamie McClen was cautioned by police for drunk and disorderly behaviour, while Bellamy was similarly treated for an alleged common assault on a 21-year-old woman.

Robson has tried to play down his side's title chances

Contrast this with the situation at Leeds, where the admittedly more serious charges relating to Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate have been a contributory factor to the collapse of their Premiership hopes.

Indeed, it is tempting to think that someone with the managerial skills of Robson could have improved the chances of the other faltering title hopefuls.

Would Robson stomach the lifeless displays that Chelsea churn out despite the number of internationals at the club?

Would the man who has used Bellamy's pace to terrorise opposition defences not get more from Liverpool's Michael Owen, a finisher five times better?

Likely to scrap

If they can survive the challenges of the next seven days intact, Newcastle enjoy the easiest run-ins of any of the title contenders.

Cort could now play a key role in Newcastle's season

In March they meet three teams who have been languishing in the bottom third of the Premiership for most of the season - Ipswich, Blackburn and Everton.

April brings a clutch of teams who by that stage with have almost nothing to play for - Aston Villa, Fulham, Charlton and West Ham - with only relegation-threatened Derby likely to scrap.

And after a two-week gap, they finish the season in May with a trip in the spring sunshine to Southampton - hardly the most daunting of tasks.

Former Saints striker Shearer has yet to score against his former club at their home stadium in the 10 seasons since he left for better things in 1992.

Realistically - and Bobby Robson would concur with this - Newcastle will not start that game at the top of the Premiership.

But if they were, and if a win could seal their first championship since 1927, would you bet against Shearer scoring the decisive goal?