LES Ferdinand's superbly-taken goal enabled Newcastle to dig themselves out of a big hole on Sunday at St James' Park, writes Peter White.

And the release of tension brought by victory over Aston Villa could be just the spark that Newcastle need to go on and win all their remaining matches.

But, having seen the dog-with-a-bone qualities of Manchester United at first hand in recent seasons, I still do not believe it will be enough to take the title to Tyneside.

Alex Ferguson's men have by far the easier run-in on paper, despite the fact that Leeds always go to Old Trafford to make life difficult for their bitter rivals. The state of Leeds at the moment suggests a runaway win for the Reds and Forest too could be felled by a significant margin, if Andy Cole ever gets his scoring act back together again.

United slipped up at West Ham on last season's final day but I can't believe they would let that happen again if they go to the Riverside Stadium needing maximum points.

The Geordies, meanwhile, face two tricky home games against Southampton - look what they did to Man United - and Europe-minded Spurs.

Rovers were an exception to Forest's usual home rule last Saturday and that won't be easy.

Newcastle CAN win all four and might well do so.

But I still feel the title will return to Manchester - on goal difference - leaving Rovers and United as the only two members of the exclusive Premiership champions club. THE RUN-IN

MAN UTD

Leeds (home) April 17; Nottm Forest (home) April 28; Middlesbrough (away) May 5.

NEWCASTLE

Southampton (home) April 17; Leeds (away) April 29; Nottm Forest (away) May 2; Tottenham (home) May 5.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.