v Newcastle United.

Not been home long, just seen Pep’s pre-match press conference (continued to look very irritated in the first half of it to me; better in the embargoed section) and with time ticking away towards an early KO tomorrow, straight to it...

v Newcastle United

St. James' Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from starting line-up in the last game which, for me blog-wise, was the Chelsea league game: 10/11).

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Jesus____________________

Sterling________________________________Mahrez

__________D. Silva___________De Bruyne________

____________________Rodri_____________________

Angelino_______________________________Cancelo

_________Fernandinho_______Stones_____________

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Bravo, Mendy, Walker, Otamendi, Gundogan, Foden, B. Silva.

Ed in net.

A back-4, I think, of Angelino, Fernandinho, John & Joao.

Rodders to ‘hold’ in front of those and in front of him, an attacking quartet of Raheem, David, Kevin & Riyad.

Gabriel to get another crack at-showing if he has it in him to compete for a regular, starting place.

Claudio the reserve ‘stopper’; Benjamin, Kyle & Nicolas the defensive replacement options from the side. Ilkay, Phil & Bernardo provide change-options in the creative / attacking department.

Notable absences:

-       Oleksandr Zinchenko – Without confirmation; although still considered injured, I have to assume that, going off the original timeline given, Oleksandr is almost at the stage where he’ll be back in light training and, therefore, not far off a return.

-       Aymeric Laporte – Expected to be back from long-term injury around March.

-       Leroy Sane – Possibly back in contention sometime in January.

-       Sergio Aguero – Injured for around 2 to 3 weeks.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Can’t see any fault with that.

Result? I think, on this occasion, our strength is in our host’s weakness. The Magpies have only scored 11 league goals in 13-league appearances and, tomorrow early afternoon, they face the 4^th best defensive record in the Prem. That’s right folks, you heard read it correctly – all this talk of our defensive issues still sees just 3 sides, in the league, with a better record in that particular department.

So, I have to repeat for recent / regular readers, it’s up to our more-forward stars to find their form and deliver tomorrow - that midweek game last Tuesday was the worst 45 minutes, in the 1^st half, I’ve ever seen from so many under Guardiola and the 2^nd half wasn’t much better. Should they find their 'zing', then I can’t see anything other than an away victory. If they don’t, then we could see a repeat of last season’s away defeat at St. James’ Park.

I’m going for a City win.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Very cold & sunny for the match, with temperatures not exceeding 3C. Lovely day for footy, providing you dress appropriately and find yourself a hot pie at some stage, I would suggest.