Newcastle United’s Christmas crackers

Newcastle United will be top of the Sky Bet Championship at Christmas following a 2-1 victory at Burton Albion last weekend.

Rafa Benitez’s side knew that a win would see them remain ahead of nearest challengers Brighton come December 25, and Dwight Gayle gave them a 15 minute lead against the Brewers thanks to his 17th goal of the season.

Lloyd Dyer equalised for Nigel Clough’s men but Mo Diame scored what turned out to be the winner 11 minutes before half time to secure the Magpies’ their 16th league victory of the campaign.

It means that they will go into their Boxing Day clash against Sheffield Wednesday a point clear of Chris Hughton’s Brighton in the race for promotion to the Premier League.

The second half of 2016 has been much better for Newcastle fans, who saw their side labour to relegation from the top-flight in May, only to bounce back admirably and set the pace in this season’s Championship.

And, with Christmas on the horizon, we thought we’d take a look back and review Newcastle’s year, and have selected their top THREE goals of 2016…