Ranking Newcastle United's Top 5 Biggest Rivals

As one of English football's most famed and storied clubs, Newcastle United naturally has their fair share of rivals.

Ranging from fiery local derbies against the likes of Sunderland and Middlesbrough, to matchups they're used to playing against clubs from across the nation, there are tons of games for the Toon Army to get particularly fired up for.

Let's go through the Magpies' five biggest rivals in English football during the Premier League era.

5. Tottenham Hotspur

Given the events in English football's Premier League era, it's certainly safe to say that the Tottenham Hotspur is Newcastle's biggest London rival, and in fact, Newcastle's biggest rival of any team in the south as a whole.

The two clubs have clashed in a number of fantastic high-scoring games over the last 20-or-so years, some of which have been very lopsided, like Newcastle's most recent 5-0 loss to the Lilywhites.

Newcastle's huge 7-1 victory over the Spurs in 1996 is another example of this.

When teams are constantly embarrassing each other like this, it's bound to heat things up eventually.

4. Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough has never really been a big enough club to bother Newcastle as much as their other local rivals, but when two teams are within 45 miles of each other, there still has to be something there.

The last time these two clubs met was back in the 2009-10 championship season, and both clubs have gone in completely different directions since, but that 2-2 draw was one of the most fiery affairs of the entire campaign.

Though the Tyne-Tees derby is considered nowhere near as important as the Tyne-Wear derby, the last 10 years have actually provided more meetings between Newcastle and Middlesbrough than between Newcastle and Sunderland. Surprisingly, the results have been evenly matched.

3. Liverpool

Liverpool and Newcastle have been big rivals for a while now, but the events of last season have really upped the intensity of the matchup.

When Andy Carroll and Jose Enrique bolted from Newcastle in favor of Liverpool in the space of only a few months, we knew their return to St. James' Park was going to be something special.

We were absolutely right. The atmosphere was immense when Carroll was substituted off early and Enrique embarrassingly took his place between the sticks towards the end of the game. It really was one of the feel good moments of the Premier League season.

And speaking of atmosphere, the Toon Army and the Kop are widely regarded as two of the very best fanbases in world football, which just adds to what we've seen develop since 1992.

2. Manchester United

Though victories against the Red Devils have been few and far between, these two clubs really do hate each other.

From Kevin Keegan's famous "I'd love it" speech, to this season's 3-0 victory, this rivalry has had a lot of memorable moments that will go down in league history.

These clubs have gone head-to-head for Premier League titles, new signings and ultimately three points for years now. With Newcastle regaining their place amongst the Premier League's elite last season, you can expect more of the same in the future.

1. Sunderland

It was inevitable that the Tyne-Wear derby was going to top this list, and for good reason.

These two sides have been going at it since 1883, and you can sense the history behind the rivalry and what it means to each set of fans every time they take the field.

It gets intense, and sometimes it even gets violent, but ultimately, this rivalry is one of the greatest spectacles in world football.

Newcastle has recorded 53 victories against Sunderland, having lost or drawn against the Black Cats 45 times each, showing that despite the gulf in class, neither team has a great advantage over the other.

Plenty of Magpies have gone down in Newcastle lore simply for their performance in this derby, including: Liam O'Brien, Nikos Dabizas, and more recently Emre Belozoglu, Shola Ameobi and Ryan Taylor.