**We are a little over a month away from the first Tyne-Wear derby in the Premier League in almost a decade, and Newcastle United fans aren't looking forward to it as much as they thought they would be.**
Newcastle United have endured a truly awful start to the Premier League campaign with just three wins from 11 games and no wins on the road as a result sit two points off the drop zone in 14th place.
Meanwhile, Sunderland are absolutely flying, picking up points against the top sides in the league and somehow occupy fourth spot in the League. Who saw this coming, seriously?
The contrasting fortunes right now are setting up a very tense derby at the Stadium of Light on 14th December, with a very real possibility that Newcastle still won't have an away win to their name with Manchester City and Everton on the road between now and then.
Soon!
Alan Shearer says he's not worried about the derby
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Alan Shearer isn't feeling too nervous about the derby, as he told Betfair (via [The Chronicle](https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/alan-shearer-makes-sunderland-vs-32857117)), however, he was very forthcoming with the praise for Sunderland, which is a rare thing for him.
> "I wouldn't say I am worried about the derby against Sunderland in a few weeks, but I've been mightily surprised at how well Sunderland have done."I don't think even their most hardened supporters would tell you that they'd be where they are in the league and what they're doing so far this season."I think one thing that's come out of Sunderland is how tough it's going to be for any team going to the Stadium of Light.
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> "I doubt Arsenal will have a tougher game this season than the one they had at the weekend."
Is it too early to be nervous?
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Were this one at home, we'd be a lot more confident than we currently are. And especially with the fact that our ticket allocation has been reduced, the 2500 fans who will be representing the Toon Army have a tough job to make themselves heard.
Newcastle could have picked up an away win by the time we head to the Stadium of Light, and we hope they have because, as fantastic as it would be to get our first win away from home at that ground, we'd much rather go into the game with that monkey off our back so we can just get the job done.
There's still a fair bit of time between now and then, but the nerves have already started. I'm just glad I no longer work in an environment that was filled with Mackems. I'd be going insane.