It's no coincidence that Newcastle United's resurgence started with a seemingly small tweak to the Magpies midfield. While the winning run began against Leicester City back in December, the change can be traced back to that thrilling 3-3 draw with Liverpool.

Sandro Tonali's switch the centre of the midfield trio completely changed the way United played, with Bruno Guiimaraes able to affect the play higher up the pitch, and Newcastle's defenders pressing opposing strikers deep into their half, knowing the Italian was covering gaps.

Alongside Brazilian powerhouse Joelinton, the trio have been a key part of the incredible run of form, not forgetting Alexander Isak's goals, the pace and creativity of Anthony Gordon and Jacob Murphy, and the solid unit at the back.

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The midfield trio, though, have been the rock that Newcastle's success has been built upon. Finding a way to incorporate them all has been one of Eddie Howe's biggest achievements this season and at a £130million combined cost of them (Joelinton £40m; Guimareas £35m; Tonali £55m) it stacks up favourably compared to some of the fees paid elsewhere in the Premier League.

While Head of Recruitment Steve Nickson was scouting and negotiating for players flying under the radar, Chelsea were paying £100m-plus for both Enzo Fernandez and Moses Caicedo, Man United spent a combined £110m on Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte and the Man City wasted £45m on Kalvin Phillips and £53m on Matheus Nunes.

On the one occasion Tonali didn't start since Liverpool, United lost 4-2 at Brentford. Joe Willock has stepped in to cover suspensions for Bruno and Joelinton, but the trio have been a formidable presence ever since. So much so that former Manchester United and France striker Louis Saha believes the Magpies now have the strongest midfield unit in the Premier League - better than Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal.

“Newcastle have the strongest midfield in the league," Saha, who had a spell on loan at Newcastle in 1999, told Paddy Power. "They have power, creativity, confidence and aggression – it's all there. Joelinton is an ex-striker now playing in midfield, so he can create the space and transition quickly, and Bruno Guimaraes' technical ability is amazing.

"Sandro Tonali has a very classy defensive style – I love this complimentary midfield. When you have them combined with wingers and a striker that can operate with ease, other teams are in danger. Sometimes they have made some silly mistakes at the back which is why they aren’t higher up in the league table, but they’ve been persistent – it's good to see.

“The Premier League is exciting this season because there are so many teams like this – in a few weeks, we could be talking about Aston Villa or Brighton like this. There are a lot of exciting teams this season. The Premier League has perhaps copied Pep Guardiola’s tactical style, which is annoying as it causes too much similar rhythm. What would make it better is to have different styles, like Arsenal back in the day against Manchester United – they had completely different styles.

“It’s nice to see Newcastle out there creating their own style with their aggressiveness and composure. Having Alexander Isak up front as well is brilliant – he's a terrific player.”

United have now beaten Arsenal twice, with Tuesday's night's 2-0 Carabao Cup win at the Emirates following a 1-0 Premier victory at St James' Park in November. They drew 3-3 with Liverpool, and 1-1 with Manchester City on home soil, while have also recorded wins over European rivals Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester United.