From the Relegation Zone to the Champions League Zone

The Ballon d'Or had completely fallen into obscurity.

Its discussion buzz was not even as high as the news, two days later, that England star Michael Sober had happily welcomed his third child.

Of course, that was because Sober had invited all of his Newcastle teammates, while Sophia and Lu Yang had each attended the banquet carrying Lu Guanjun and Lu Tianhou.

On December 3, the fourteenth round of the Premier League kicked off.

The bad news was that Newcastle head coach Flick was still serving his suspension and would not be able to return to the touchline with the team until the next match.

But the good news was that Newcastle had been on a winning streak ever since Flick's suspension.

Winning was not scary. What was awkward was whoever happened to be absent.

Newcastle fans cried out in amazement: so the real mole had been the head coach all along.

Newcastle faced tremendous pressure in this round of league fixtures because, while their opponents were not a Premier League powerhouse, they were Newcastle's greatest rivals in club history—the Black Cats of Sunderland.

There was no need to dig into the reasons. Neither side was exactly a powerhouse anyway.

For a derby to truly capture the fans' interest, both teams needed to be giants.

Take El Clásico in Spain, the national derby in Italy, the Reds of Liverpool against the Red Devils of Manchester United, and so on.

Even the London derby paled in comparison to those super derbies.

In the end, it came down to the gap in team strength.

For example, most Manchester United fans considered the Double Red Derby the most important derby, but for a long period in the past, their hatred for Leeds United had been even more intense. As Leeds United were relegated,