Before our game against Nottingham Forest and even before Leeds United when I come to think about it, I kept glancing at tonight’s fixture and couldn’t help thinking that this was going to be a real contest and proper test for us; one where I fully expected Newcastle to be looking for revenge against a City side who gets the better of them so very often.
Since those thoughts, we hit a bump on our title-chasing road last Wednesday on the same night our hosts beat a resurgent Manyoo, despite having 10 men for half the game.
All of that has simply amplified my feeling that this is going to be a proper scrap tonight (8:00pm KO GMT) and one, which, I’m not entirely sure we’ll come out on top in all honesty.
v Newcastle United
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| St. James' Park |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game which for me, blog wise, was our away win at Leeds United: 10/11).
A very fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-1-3-2 / 4-3-3 (occasional 3-6-1):
____________________Haaland____________________
__Doku_______________________________Samenyo__
___________Silva(C)_____________Cherki____________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Ait-Nouri__________________________________Nunes
___________Dias(VC)______________Guehi___________
____________________Trafford____________________
Subs: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Stones, Gonzalez, Foden, O’Reilly, Reijnders, Savinho and Marmoush.
James takes command of the goal area for this domestic cup game.
A back-4, occasional 3, of Rayan-A-, Ruben, Marc and Matheus.
Rodders just ahead of those.
A returning [to ‘the 11’] Jeremy, Bernardo, Rayan-C- and Antoine is my guess across the middle and on the wings, all in support of Erling who needs to rediscover some consistency soon.
Gigi takes a rare seat on the side as reserve keeper; Abdukodir and John make up just two defenders next to the Italian. Four midfielders come in the shape of Nico-G-, Phil, Nico-O- and Tijjani, while Savinho and Omar make up two wide options, with Omar able to play more central in attack too.
Notable absences:
- Marcus Bettinelli – Not selected.
- Rico Lewis – Injured with a slight problem in his ankles. When discussed on 6th March, it didn’t sound like the England international would be out for too long.
- Josko Gvardiol – Out with a fractured tibia, for which he has had surgery. On 23rd January, we were informed that it will be at least 2 more months before the Croatian international might be ready to return, which takes him up to the end of March.
- Max Alleyne – Not selected.
- Nathan Ake – Not selected.
- Mateo Kovacic – Back in training with his teammates as he attempts to put nine months of injury / rehabilitation behind him. An update on 6th March confirmed that training has continued and the Croatian international is making progress step by step.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
Yep.
Result?
Our hosts continue to have a fair number of injuries, as was the case the last time we met on 21st February, and that includes injuries to some key players too.
The last time I wrote about The Magpies a fortnight ago, I groaned about how they’d hit some form with three, back-to-back wins just ahead of their clash with us. Since then, it’s W L W, which includes a Champions League home win. That sort of mirrors their league form of L L W L L W.
They are a strange side - a mix of one that is very beatable whilst at the same time they have it within themselves to beat almost anything that’s put in front of them; although quite often with goals flyin’ in at both ends.
Going back to just the beginning of February, they have scored a whopping 22 goals in 9 games but have also conceded 17! 39 goals and not once did a team not score in those same nine matches. Wow.
After our draw at home to Forest, Pep looked tired, very flat and as sick as a Psittacine.
Not capitalising on plenty of possession and chances created was the main theme of the night once again. Very frustrating indeed. 😠
It was nice to see a much more upbeat Pep in his pre-match press conference yesterday as he underlined his determination to go to the North East with nothing else on his mind but to win and reach the quarter finals; despite Wednesday night’s Champions League tie looming large on the horizon.
I’ve said that I expect a this to be a bit of a ding-donger – a real end-to-end thriller with chances galore at both ends and when I read my own stats about no clean sheets in nine Newcastle games and 39 goals flying in during that time; it only stands to underpin my thoughts.
For once, I’m going to sit on the fence and call this one a draw at full time. Then, in what I expect to be a crazy game, it’s ‘anything goes’ in extra time and penalties. My prediction is a score draw in ‘the 90’ - something like 2-2 or 3-3.
You watch, it’ll be a boring one-nil game now (hopefully to us if it is)…
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result:
Prediction: N/A
Result: N/A
Expected weather conditions during the game: Bright sunshine all day in the region gives way to clear, starry skies above St James’ Park floodlights. Just 3 or 4C is the “feels like” temperature during the game but it’s dry and there’s little in the way of any breeze to amplify the cold temperature. 🧥🧣🧤🍵🍺⚽🥙🍕
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| Solidarity |
