…along with, hopefully, lessons learned from the reverse fixture way back in August 2022.
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| Etihad Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
____________________Haaland____________________
Grealish__________________________________Foden
___________Silva_______________De Bruyne________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Ake______________________________________Walker
____________Dias_______________Akanji___________
____________________Ederson____________________
Subs: Ortega, Lewis, Laporte, Stones, Phillips, Gundogan, Palmer, Mahrez & Alvarez.
Ederson reclaims the gloves for this league fixture.
I can see a back-4 consisting of Nathan, Ruben, Manuel along-with slightly more defensive-minded / less adventurous [compared with Rico Lewis] Kyle on the right-hand side.
Rodders, having been given a much-needed rest in midweek, steps back into the defensive midfield slot.
Ahead of the Spaniard, I reckon we’ll see an attacking quartet of Jack, Bernardo, who may-well be given a dual / fluid role, Kevin and back-to-form, Phil.
Erling to ‘lead the line’.
By the sounds of it, Stefan appears to have recovered from his Tuesday night hand injury and should be okay to provide keeper cover, while Rico, Aymeric & John are the defensive replacement options on the side. Kalvin, Ilkay, Cole & Riyad are the midfield / wing options in ‘the 9’; Julian is the back-up striker.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – Suspended by the club until further notice.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Yep.
Result? Referencing back to my heading and subheading, firstly we’re about to face a side with the best defensive record in the Premier League this season so far, with a quite incredible [just] 15 leaked in 23 games played…hence the patience thing. And with just 2 league games lost, which is also the least number of defeats in the division, you’d be forgiven for asking why they’re not higher in the table than their current standing of 5th. Simply put, they’re the draw specialist of league with 11 shared points from those same 23 matches.
I’m sure some of those draws have had a few Newcastle supporters chomping on their knuckles in frustration at what could have been, as the final whistles sounded at some of those fixtures. What I think it means for us, is that they are quite-simply hard to beat…and we NEED all-3 points if we’re to keep on the tails of leaders Arsenal.
So…do we ‘throw caution to the wind’; do we go all ‘gung-ho’ and push our wing-backs high up the pitch as part time attacking midfielders? Well, of course, this is the “lessons learned” part of my opening statement because whenever I think back to that game at St. James’ Park in the summer of 2022, it still rankles with me a little how we set up and appeared unaware - or at least unconcerned - about how Newcastle set up themselves to attack on the counter; using the wings in particular. Result? After going 0-1 up, we were completely overrun for a good while; exposed a heck of a lot down the flanks of our defence and soon found ourselves 3-1 down before eventually salvaging a draw.
Instead, I think we need to stay solid at the back but ‘box clever’ further up the pitch; playing to our strengths of high possession, quick, accurate passing and on-target finishing.
Basically, as well as the right tactics, we need our big players to perform for sure as anything less will result in dropped points.
Our visitors have ‘hit the buffers’ a little in recent weeks – at least they’re certainly not filling the gaps in-between draws with wins at the moment; with no victories in their last 5 outings in all competitions (League Cup final included). But we shouldn’t let that lull us into any false sense of security – they remain an organised, hardworking bunch who should be respected for sure.
I’ve spoken about our visitor’s good defensive record but I’ve certainly not forgotten that we are the league’s top goal scorers. Additionally – and against our largely-season-filled form of tripping up every 2 or 3 games - we appear to be looking more like our old selves in terms of both performances as well as putting together something more like ‘a run’; with 4 wins and 2 draws from all competitions in our last 6, which sadly included a dominating and definite ‘should have won’ away game at Forest.
As always, we are sure to-have-to-work hard for it but I can see 3 points coming to the home side. It’s a City win for me.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: Win
Result: Won
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: It’s a decent early afternoon (12:30pm KO local time). Morning sunshine may still linger / find a gap or two as some light cloud begins to move in around the start of the match; it’s dry and providing adequate clothing is worn in the stands, then 7C should just feel “fresh” and no worse than that. There’s barely a breeze either. Good conditions for watching a game of football, I’d say.
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| Solidarity |
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