Form Guide: Shelvey shining as Newcastle finally top the Championship

It’s finally happened. For the first time this season Newcastle United are top of the Championship having been tipped to win the title at a canter. While the odds seemed to be too heavily stacked in their favour - since shown by a start to the campaign that has seen the Magpies drop 11 points - the reasons behind their support were understandable.

Chief among them was the manager, with Rafa Benitez confirming his decision to stay on at the club and subsequently receiving significant backing in the transfer market. Not only did Newcastle have the benefit of parachute payments but they managed to accrue a frankly remarkable sum on player departures. With wholesale changes clearly a necessity to rejuvenate a squad lacking desire, Benitez signed no fewer than 12 players over the summer.

While the most expensive among them in Dwight Gayle and Matt Ritchie were tipped to fire the club straight back to the top-flight at the first time of asking, coming good on that assumption, it’s a player that came under scrutiny for failing to put up the fight last season that is really silencing his critics this time around.

After thirteen matches this season Newcastle’s highest rated player is Jonjo Shelvey, who has had his doubters throughout a career that has seen him end up back outside of the Premier League just a year after emerging as a starter for England.

Earmarked as a prodigious talent from a very young age at Charlton, Liverpool were quickest to pounce as a number of top clubs began to show an interest. The youngster's career at Anfield failed to really take off though, and he was better remembered for shows of petulance than his obvious talent on the field. While many may have been quick to label Shelvey a flop, he was just 21 when a move to Swansea materialised, since stating that both manager Brendan Rodgers and captain Steven Gerrard urged him to reconsider.

Shelvey would prove his potential in his first season in Wales, scoring 6 goals and registering 6 assists in the league. However, his influence at the club began to wane, with Garry Monk openly blaming the midfielder's application for stunting his progression. Following Monk's dismissal, caretaker Alan Curtis would overlook Shelvey and a switch to Newcastle proved to be the best option for both player and club.

The England international would again make a strong start in his new surroundings, even taking the Newcastle armband just weeks after signing for Steve McClaren, but after an initial impact his form dipped as the club failed to turn things around. Benitez would be appointed McClaren’s successor in March and retained Shelvey as captain for his first three matches in charge but would strip him of the armband against Southampton and of his place in the side altogether the following week.

Benitez would, in fact, opt to start without Shelvey for the final six matches of the season, clearly unconvinced of the 24-year old in some capacity or another. When he was then only named as a substitute on the opening day of this season against Fulham, the impression was that the playmaker was not a Benitez player. He would need to work hard to get into the Spaniard’s good books.

The player himself has since admitted that he had failed to perform. "I felt that last season I didn’t do enough personally to warrant playing, to be honest", he confirmed. His decision to stay on at the club seemed to be driven by a desire to put that right.

Since he was brought back into the starting line-up against Brighton having again been dropped to the bench at Bristol City in August, Shelvey has started all eleven of Newcastle’s matches in all competitions. A record of three goals and five assists in nine league outings in that time has seen him emerge as the first name on the teamsheet having previously been outside of the top ten outfielders.

Benitez is now full of praise for his midfielder, stating after the recent win over Brentford, "Here we have a player who we know has it in him to deliver the final pass. He has the quality and can carry on with his position and control the game – and then the strikers will have more chances and the team will play better.”

His return of five assists is the most in the Championship and the understanding that he is gaining with Gayle - now the runaway top scorer in the league with 11 goals - looks like seeing Newcastle establish themselves as firm favourites once more. Shelvey’s anticipation of Gayle’s intelligent movement is now a real feature of this side, and his vision and range of passing is once again coming to the fore. Where he has always been accused of looking for that ‘Hollywood pass’ too quickly, the former Swansea man’s undoubted ability to pick a defence splitting ball is more evident in the second tier.

Click for Shelvey's full career stats in the Premier League

Now operating for a Newcastle side that is certainly among the league’s strongest rather than the weakest in the Premier League, Shelvey is afforded the sort of space and time that allows his game to flourish. It’s little wonder then, that his passing statistics are at a career high across the board. An average of 51.9 passes per game is his highest yet, as well as 2.2 key passes and 1.2 accurate crosses per outing. Moreover, no player has delivered more accurate through balls in the Championship (3), while Shelvey is third of outfielders and first of midfielders in terms of accurate long balls (90).

However, it's this quality in possession that has rarely been called into question. Shelvey's issues in the past have revolved around a mentality that he has since confirmed he is looking to leave behind.

"I feel more confident and fearless than what I was before. I have probably always been a player who needs to feel loved, who needs an arm around me," Shelvey said in a recent interview. "As I am getting older I have felt that's a bit childish, that's not the way to be in life. You don't need someone to say well done and that if you have played well. You should know."

If Shelvey continues to prove that he is turning a corner in that aspect then not only should Newcastle's stay atop the Championship be a lasting one but the midfielder's future could yet be as bright as it appeared 12 months ago.

How impressed have you been with Shelvey's progress this season? Let us know in the comments below