Newcastle v Stoke – Match preview.
Posted on September 25th, 2010 | 228 Comments |
Tony Pulis has moulded his side into a solid Premier League team these days and most people know full well that to get points off of them then you have to be up for the fight and be prepared to give no less than 100%.
Luckily for Newcastle we have a team who will do that nowadays. The last time we played Stoke I never felt confident about our own ability to get results against the more physical teams in the league. A draw both at home and away in our relegation season kind of confirmed that.
This time round is different though, and Newcastle now have the ability to mix it up with the best of them after our ‘character building’ season in The Championship last year.
Chris Hughton is expected to make wholesale changes to the team that beat Chelsea in midweek and tomorrows team will more than likely look very similar to the one that started the match at Everton last weekend.
Danny Simpson and Danny Guthrie are both back in training but are still short of match fitness whilst Steven Taylor will return to training in around two weeks time. Steve Harper and Dan Gosling are now our only long term injury absentees. James Perch is also available for selection after serving his one match suspension during the midweek game. I would expect the Newcastle team to look something like this;
Newcastle – Tim Krul, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge, Cheick Tiote, Joey Barton, Hatem Ben Arfa, Kevin Nolan, Andy Carroll.
Stoke City have been struggling of late with their away form, although our recent away results at grounds where we usually struggle should serve as a warning that the situation Stoke are going through at the moment can quickly be turned around.
Jermaine Pennant should be fit after suffering from a slight hamstring strain whilst Thomas Sorenson, Abdoulaye Faye and Jonathan Walters are expected to reclaim their place in the Stoke starting XI. Mamady Sidebe remains sidelined through injury.
Stoke’s last league game was a 1-1 draw at home against West Ham. This is how their team lined up for that one;
Stoke – Thomas Sorensen, Robert Huth, Danny Collins, Ryan Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Jermaine Pennant, Dean Whitehead, Rory Delap, Matt Etherington, Kenwyne Jones, Jonathan Walters.
As I have said, quite a few times actually, it won’t an easy game tomorrow and the Blackpool game should serve as a reminder to us all to keep our feet on the ground. If we can do that and go about our own game as we have been then I would say we could well get a narrow win.
My prediction: Newcastle 2-1 Stoke
Howay the lads!
Date – Sunday, 26th September, 2010.
Kick-off – 4:10 pm.
Venue – St James’ Park, God’s country (Newcastle).
well toonsy has put the mockers on it