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2010/11 Season Review: October
Written by Newcastle Utd
A month which began with the loss of Hatem Ben Arfa to a broken leg, ended spectacularly as United thrashed Sunderland 5-1 at St. James' Park
OCTOBER
League record: P10 W4 D2 L4 F19 A14 Pts 14
Position (at end of month): 7th
United were unlucky to go down 2-1 at Manchester City in the first game of October. Their big-spending hosts took the lead when defender Mike Williamson was adjudged to have brought down Carlos Tevez inside the box, and the Argentine star did the rest from the spot.
Jonas Gutierrez pulled Newcastle level, only for ex-Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson to seal all three points for City.
Sadly, the fixture would be remembered for Nigel de Jong's tackle which left Hatem Ben Arfa with a broken leg and ultimately, brought a premature end to the Frenchman's season.
The following week the Magpies were indebted to an injury-time equaliser from centre-back Fabricio Coloccini to salvage a point against Wigan at St. James' Park in a 2-2 draw.
Earlier, former Newcastle winger Charles N'Zogbia had found the back of the net twice in as many minutes for the Latics, and although Shola Ameobi halved the deficit with less than 20 minutes remaining, the hosts looked to be heading for defeat. But Coloccini had other ideas, nodding in his first home goal for the Club, to send the Toon Army into raptures.
Goals from captain Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll earned United a 2-1 victory at West Ham seven days later to keep up their fine away form, but the Magpies were dumped out of the Carling Cup by Arsenal as they ended up on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline.
However, that disappointment was not to last for long as the month was rounded off in unbelievable style with a five-star home performance - literally - against local rivals Sunderland.
Incredibly United were three up at the break, two goals from skipper Kevin Nolan and a penalty from Shola Ameobi shocking the visitors. And both players found the net again in the second half - the former completing a dream derby-day hat-trick - to complete a 5-1 win that sent the Geordie masses home in unbridled euphoria.