Man City have a 12-point lead over Man United at the top of the Premier League... but Newcastle's collapse from an identical position in 1996 shows they haven't won it yet

• e-mail

It may not have been The Entertainers' most entertaining afternoon, but it looked to be one of immense significance.

With what Bob Cass in the Mail on Sunday described as a 'searing left-foot volley' the 'effervescent, evergreen veteran' Peter Beardsley powered Newcastle United to a 2-1 home win over Bolton and a 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

The fact it was Beardsley's 100th league goal for his hometown club only added to the feeling of jubilation around St James' Park as Kevin Keegan's swashbuckling team put further ground between themselves and chasers Manchester United and Liverpool.

Rob Lee and Les Ferdinand celebrate a goal for Newcastle United during the 1995-96 season

With striker Ferdinand in excellent form, Kevin Keegan's team were odds-on for the title 

Man City currently enjoy a 12-point lead over Man United at the top of the Premier League - just as Newcastle United did at this stage of the 1995-96 campaign

Pep Guardiola's side have been in sensational form this season and are the champions-elect

This was January 20, 1996 and the stars were aligning for Keegan to guide Newcastle United to their first top-flight Championship in 69 years.

With Les Ferdinand supplying a flow of goals, the dreamy creative play of David Ginola, the midfield strength of Beardsley and Rob Lee, and one of the most watertight defences in the league, surely Newcastle couldn't fail?

Fast forward to January 20 this year and Manchester City will enter this weekend with their own 12-point lead over United at the top of the Premier League.

With Pep Guardiola's team so strong, nobody is expecting them to surrender the initiative from here, but Newcastle's dramatic collapse in 1996 does show there is precedent for this type of thing.

Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall had backed Keegan for a title tilt in the summer of 1995. They splashed out £16m - small fry now, of course, but a considerable sum back then - on Ferdinand, Ginola, Warren Barton and Shaka Hislop.

The results were immediate and spectacular. The Toon suffered just one defeat in their opening 16 league games, winning 12 of them, to put themselves in a very strong position by early December.

Les Ferdinand heads home at Bolton as Newcastle established their double digit lead at the top

Keegan's Newcastle side were the Great Entertainers of the Premier League and were the nation's popular choice to claim the Premier League title

Alex Ferguson's United, who had surrendered their title to Blackburn Rovers the season before, weren't in bad form but dropped enough points to trail in Newcastle's wake.

They then suffered a terrible November and December, drawing with Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday, before losing 2-0 at Liverpool and 3-1 at Leeds.

Although a 2-0 home win over Newcastle on December 27 allowed them to claw back a little ground, Newcastle continued to pull away throughout January. Wins over Wednesday and Middlesbrough followed that Bolton success.

The Toon looked unstoppable. Then everything went to pot. A 2-0 loss at West Ham on February 21 looked like an off-day - the gap was reduced to just six points, but they still had a game in hand.

But that blip soon turned into a full-blown crisis. Newcastle drew 3-3 with Man City in a ding-dong at Maine Road. The came the rematch with United at St James'.

Newcastle, with their new Colombian arrival Faustino Asprilla to the fore, battered United for most of the contest. Peter Schmeichel made a string of top-class saves to keep them at bay, bailing out his fragile defence.

Keegan further strengthened his Newcastle side by signing Faustino Asprilla in the February

Eric Cantona's winner for Man United at St James' Park in early March changed the title race

But then, as Neil Harman would describe it in the Daily Mail, 'having withstood so many ferocious blows, the former champions responded with a punch which threatened to take all the wind from Newcastle's billowing sails.'

Eric Cantona swivelled on to Phil Neville's cross six minutes into the second half and volleyed across Pavel Srnicek and home for the season's pivotal goal. It was vintage United smash and grab. The gap was down to just a solitary point.

While a psychological blow, it shouldn't have been a disaster for Keegan. Two weeks later, Newcastle beat West Ham 3-0, while Man United needed a last-minute Cantona goal to grab a point at QPR. Newcastle still had that game in hand.

Yet the two teams would diverge in form from then on. Ferguson's side, having eroded the deficit, were just relentless - they won seven of their last eight matches from that point on.

Newcastle, on the other hand, simply crumbled. Beaten 2-0 by Arsenal at Highbury, they then had to go to Anfield. For many fans, it remains the greatest match of the Premier League era.

Given their form, and the fact Man United had now assumed top spot, Newcastle had planned to keep things tight at Anfield. That flew out the window as soon as Robbie Fowler headed past Srnicek in the second minute.

Yet after 15 breathless minutes, Newcastle were actually leading thanks to Ferdinand and a classy Ginola goal. Fowler equalised 10 minutes into the second half, only for Asprilla to restore Newcastle's lead, celebrating with a flip.

Keegan is then in two minds. Shut up shop, or go for the kill. In a decision that looks disastrous with hindsight, Newcastle continue to play their open, attacking game.

Stan Collymore settles one of the greatest Premier League games ever with a last-minute winner as Liverpool beat Newcastle 4-3 at Anfield

Collymore was left unmarked to fire home past Pavel Srnicek after a ding-dong contest

Keegan couldn't bring himself to look from the dug-out in the season's defining image

In the 68th minute, Stan Collymore makes it 3-3, yet Keegan still wants the win despite his players being exhausted from the 100mph action.

In stoppage time, Collymore is left unmarked by a flagging defensive line and smashes his shot past Srnicek. The camera pans out to Keegan, slumped despairingly in the dug-out, the image that would come to define the season.

The game was up, though half-a-dozen matches remained. When two late Graham Fenton goals earned Blackburn a 2-1 win at Ewood Park, Newcastle were six points behind.

And although they would win three of their five games after that, such was United's winning form, they would ultimately win the league by four points.

Newcastle had crumbled on the field and their manager had lost the psychological warfare with Ferguson off it.

Having been wound up by Ferguson in the media, he snapped live on Sky TV after their 1-0 win at Leeds on April 29. 

Keegan lost his rag with Alex Ferguson live on Sky TV after Newcastle's win at Leeds

Ferguson wound Keegan up with a series of comments as he deployed 'mind games'

Asked about Ferguson's comments that teams didn't try as hard against Newcastle as they did against his team, Keegan replied: 'I've kept really quiet but I'll tell you something, he went down in my estimations when he said that. We have not resorted to that.

'You can tell him now, we're still fighting for this title and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something.

'And I'll tell you, honestly, I will love it if we beat them. Love it.'

They did go to Middlesbrough and get something - winning 3-0 to claim a third title in four seasons. Just up the road, Newcastle laboured to a 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

That rant would become Keegan's epitaph when he quit midway through the following season.

It's unlikely to go downhill so fast for Guardiola this season, despite their own 4-3 loss at Anfield, but, as we witnessed back in 1996, football does have a way of biting you.

(Left to right) Man United players David May, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt celebrate with the Premier League trophy after their final day win at Middlesbrough