WHEN Daryl Janmaat appeared in Holland’s World Cup semi-final with Argentina earlier this summer, he must have thought life could not get much better. When he found himself in the Premier League relegation zone with Newcastle United two months later, he must have thought life could not get much worse.

Six short weeks separated the thrill of the World Cup’s last four from the trauma of an opening-day defeat to Manchester City that kicked off a run of seven games without a victory for his new employers.

With supporters calling for their managers’ head and goals being conceded left, right and centre, most notably during a chaotic spell that saw the Magpies concede seven in the space of two matches against Crystal Palace and Southampton, Janmaat could have been forgiven for wondering what on earth he had got himself into when he agreed to a £5m move from Feyenoord immediately after the World Cup finals.

It is only now, in the wake of just one defeat in nine matches, that some perspective can be achieved, although with a club as volatile as Newcastle United, it is surely only a matter of time before the next crisis looms around the corner.

Newcastle don’t really do dull, but while Janmaat has learned to take the rough with the smooth and not get swept up in the fluctuating passions that rapidly turn Tyneside’s footballing fortunes upside down, the 25-year-old insists he has never questioned the wisdom of his decision to swap one of his homeland’s biggest and most stable teams for one of England’s most unpredictable, if generally newsworthy, clubs.

“I never really had any doubts,” said Janmaat, who is the only player to have started every one of Newcastle’s matches so far this season. “Of course, at the start of the season, things were not good and there was a lot of pressure on the trainer and on us as players.

“That was not nice, but I always had the belief that we had a good enough squad to do much better. I probably didn’t expect us to win six games in a row, but I always knew we were capable of going on a much better run and turning things around.”

That recovery process culminated in the 1-0 win over QPR in Newcastle’s most recent home game that briefly took the club into fourth position in the table.

Subsequent results against West Ham and Burnley have seen them slip back to ninth, but the general mood remains buoyant as the Magpies prepare to entertain league leaders Chelsea this afternoon.

Jose Mourinho’s side have been sweeping all before them this season, and if Newcastle defend anything like they did in the first half of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Turf Moor, they will be in for a long and somewhat painful afternoon.

Janmaat was one of the few Newcastle players to emerge with any credit from Tuesday’s first-half showing, and the right-back was influential in both an attacking and defensive sense as the visitors improved markedly after the break to claim a point.

He has been his side’s most consistent performer this season, with his commitment, work-rate and impressive positioning helping to keep things secure at the back while his energetic overlapping runs have played a major role in Newcastle’s attacking, especially on the counter.

“Daryl’s performances have been outstanding, but he’ll have the biggest test of his Premier League career this weekend,” said Pardew. “He’ll be up against (Eden) Hazard, and Hazard is a formidable player.

“He’s probably in the top four or five players in the league, so Daryl has a really tough job on his hands. But he’s doing absolutely brilliantly for us and we couldn’t be more pleased with him and what he’s been doing.”

Newcastle’s last three home games have ended in a 1-0 victory, and while they will have achieved some feat if they manage to emulate Sunderland by preventing Chelsea from scoring later today, their displays over the last couple of months have proved they are capable of stifling an opposition on home soil.

They have also produced a string of impressive counter-attacking displays, most notably in the Capital One Cup win at Manchester City and the league success over Spurs, and if Chelsea are to commit a large number of men forward this afternoon, they will have to be wary of Newcastle’s threat on the break.

“We have shown we can win different types of matches,” said Janmaat. “We can attack teams and cause problems on the break, but we can also be organised and hard to break down when we have to be.

“That is a big strength of the team. At the moment, we are very good defensively and we also have a lot of pace in attack. You can see that on the counter, we have really improved our football this year.

“Our defensive record has been very good recently, and that is a very good record to have. It is one of the most important things you can do as a side. If you have a clean sheet, then we have enough skills in the frontline to make a goal. If we can keep a clean sheet, we feel as though we can win any game we play in.”