Should Newcastle United be…

…quaking in their football boots?

Fear the ‘wounded animal’, an’ all that?

Does the wounded animal phrase even APPLY when the wound was self-inflicted?

Well…there’s certainly a case for a ‘reaction’ from us as we go into Friday night’s game in the north east.

v Newcastle United

St. James' Park

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 9/11).

It might seem like a strange team line-up that I’m about to suggest now that we’ve regained the Premier League title (3 times in 4 seasons; 5 times in 10) – a very strong 11 that a lot of City fans might say is completely unnecessary.

However, not only are our better players going to have to have some ‘game time’ before the Champions League final in order to keep themselves ‘rust free’ but I just get the feeling that our manager will want to give ‘us fans’ a performance – and hopefully a positive result – to cheer after last Saturday’s slightly weird shenanigans…as well as the fact that, largely speaking, we’ve won the league without being able to celebrate it properly together.

The players too, I’m sure and more importantly, will want to ‘blast away’ the cobwebs & memories of last weekend, even if they-personally didn’t participate; a Saturday performance & result which was then followed by a very quiet…“Yaaay”, as another result handed us the title without us-having to kick another ball.

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

____________________Aguero____________________

 

 

Foden__________________________________Mahrez

 

_________Gundogan___________Silva_____________

 

__________________Fernandinho_________________

Zinchenko_______________________________Walker

 

_____________Stones__________Dias_____________

 

 

____________________Ederson___________________

Subs: Steffen, Cancelo, Mendy, Ake, Laporte, Rodri, Sterling, Torres, Jesus.

Ederson, of course, in net.

A very strong, back-4 of Oleksandr, John, Ruben & Kyle.

Fernandinho has the defensive midfield role.

An attacking 4, then, of Phil, Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad.

Sergio to get another crack an' start ‘up top’? I’d say so.

Zack is the reserve stopper; Joao, Nathan, Eric & Aymeric are the defensive replacement options from the side. Rodders, Raheem, Ferran & Gabriel make up the midfield / wing / attacking subs.

And if our Spanish boss DOES go with this starting 11, there’s plenty of time to-then chop / change / rest / protect, mix & match in the remaining 2 league fixtures…

Notable absences:

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

-       Kevin De Bruyne – Injured with ‘muscular fatigue’ but on the road to recovery, we are told.

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

Sure do – that’s about our strongest-available 11, I’d say.

Result? A City win…and by a fairly big margin too, I reckon.

 

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

Prediction: Win

Result: Draw

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Not much doin’ – a bit of a breeze off the east coast and a small chance of some drizzle but nothing whatsoever that will affect the game. 8 or 9C isn’t even particularly chilly for the 8:00pm KO (BST).