Season finale: Newcastle v West Brom match preview
Posted on May 21st, 2011 | 8 Comments |
I’ve already done my geeky permutations so now it’s a matter of getting out onto the pitch and winning to give ourselves the best chance of a top 10 finish.
West Brom are having a decent run of form under Roy Hodgson, having claimed the scalps of Villa, Liverpool, Everton and the Mackems in recent weeks and they should certainly be up for the game.
The Baggies have only won one of their last 18 games against us (the last one, in December 2010, after which Chris Hughton was sacked) but they have also never lost the last game of a league season. All of that means squat of course and it depends on how well each side performs on the day.
Russian-born, Nigerian international Peter Odemwingie is probably West Brom’s main danger man with 15 goals to his name in 32 appearances this season.
Alan Pardew commented on the game as follows:
“It will be a difficult game because they are in form, but if we beat them we go above them and that will be significant. We want to get the highest finish we can.
“Our starting line-up may not be too unfamiliar, but coming off the bench might be and the same will probably apply for West Brom. It’s important we win the game and these young players understand drawing and losing is not what we are paid for.”
And assistant West Brom manager Mike Appleton commented as follows:
“I suppose we have got a little bit of a luxury that we don’t have to worry about the threat of relegation.
“That said, there will be a lot of fans going to the game on Sunday so we know how important it is to get something out of the game. Hopefully it will be a win and hopefully we can get ourselves in the top half of the table.”
It would be nice to finish the season an a high and I think we will. I’ll go for 2-1 to us (assuming the world hasn’t ended by then).
Team News
A knock against Chelsea last weekend means that Jonas Gutierrez joins our long injury list which consists of: Ben Arfa (leg), Ireland & Nolan (both ankle), Gosling, Harper & Perch (all knee), Guthrie (shin) and Williamson (arm).
However, Leon Best, Alan Smith and Shane Ferguson are now available for selection, although it remains to be seen whether they get a place in the starting XI.
I would suggest our line up might look something like: Krul, Simpson, Saylor, Colo, Enrique, Lovenkrands, Raylor, Barton, Ferguson, Ameobi, Best. However, there are rumours that Sammeobi might be joining Shameobi up front and Alan Smith could always slot into midfield with Barton going out on the right and Lovenkrands warming the bench.
The Baggies have Dorrans (ankle) and Ibanez (hamstring) as their only injured players and will probably line up something like: Carson, Reid, Olsson, Tamas, Shorey, Mulumbu, Cox, Scharner, Brunt, Odemwingie, Thomas.
Mark Halsey is officiating and the match kicks off at 16:00 on Sunday.
Howay The Lads!
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
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