If ever a short span that encapsulated Newcastle United's puzzling season.
This past weekend, Eddie Howe's team suffered a bruising 3-1 loss against struggling West Ham at London Stadium.
That outcome that left struggling away Newcastle sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
To think this side went on to overtake Real Madrid into sixth place in the Champions League rankings following a 2-0 win against Athletic Club at St James' Park a few days later.
It was their fifth consecutive home victory, but that was not cause for celebration for Howe.
Sunday's trip to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle look to at last tackle their road struggles after not securing a victory on the road in the league since April.
"It's very disappointing because I think we have a style of play and a method of play that is effective, that's highly successful," the Newcastle manager said.
"For whatever reason we have not been winning the games away from home that we ought to have.
"Now we're sort of caught in that cycle where it's becoming a topic of conversation and we're likely growing more aware of it."
Home Comforts at 'Secure' St James'
Newcastle's squad were certainly made aware of it earlier this week.
They had nowhere for the team to hide as they were subjected to what back Dan Burn described as a "very painful" review meeting in the days after the West Ham defeat.
"We saw how far off we were from what we demand from ourselves," Burn said. "But that's the best way to learn.
"You have got to have some tough talks and the coach is quite good at doing that. He is always very honest with what he says."
Burn, who went on to open the scoring with a powerful header, always knew that Newcastle would bounce back against Athletic.
The home side hardly needed any added motivation to contest a Champions League match under the lights at St James'.
In his programme notes, ahead of the game, skipper Bruno Guimaraes even wrote that the stadium was a "secure environment for us where we know we play our best football."
And results certainly back those words up.
Newcastle have beaten Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an aggregate scoreline of 11-1 on home soil in the last month alone.
They have a 70% win rate at St James' this season. That statistic should be even better - last-minute goals proved damaging against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these top contenders and Barcelona are the only teams to have defeated Howe's side on Tyneside.
Each by a solitary strike.
Travel Troubles
However it has been a very different story away from home.
Newcastle have only won four league games on their travels in 2025 and they have looked especially blunt of late.
Howe's side have scored a mere fraction of the goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (one) on the road.
Jacob Murphy's opener against West Ham was a uncommon instance of this side being ruthless away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had struck the post.
Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe's team have had 30 less contact in the enemy area (110) and they have only had 50% fewer shots on target (13) on their travels, which highlights the difficulties they have faced penetrating defenses.
Newcastle could at least fall back on their solidity as a foundation earlier in the campaign following clean sheets against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.
But the away side have since conceded five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.
That backline work starts with the forward pressure, but Newcastle have won the ball on eight less times (16) away than at home (24), while much-lauded midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been often circumvented on the road in recent weeks.
Burn has spoken of the need to "adopt a grittier approach", referencing how his side were "renowned a few years ago for physical play."
Howe recognised his side "possibly need a bit of that" ahead of Sunday's trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the "quality, execution and, above all, the mindset".
"It's about playing a game of football and producing a good performance – regardless of where we are playing," he said.
"The only way we can answer those questions is to play well and get the job done."
