Steve Bruce has insisted matching last season's Premier League points tally would not represent success for Newcastle - but it would be 'acceptable'.
The Magpies head into Sunday's home clash with Arsenal having significantly eased their relegation fears with two wins and two draws in their last four games, and with Bruce looking to equal, if not better, the 44 points and 13th place his side managed at the end of the last campaign.
That has helped them regain some of the ground they lost during a confidence-sapping 19-match run which yielded just two victories and thrust them into the thick of a survival battle with injuries and Covid-19 severely limiting the under-pressure head coach's options.