Arsenal vs Newcastle United match banter!
Posted on March 12th, 2012 | 83 Comments |
Date: Mon 12th Mar 2012.
Kick-Off: 8pm.
Referee: Howard Webb (Man. U).
Good evening Geordies and welcome to our regular “match banter” feature.
This evening of course sees us facing the Queen’s favourite side, the “Gooners” of Arsenal. Something which my esteemed colleague, Hugh, missed out of his otherwise excellent match preview is that this evening will be Alan Pardew’s 50th Premiership game in charge of the Magpies so far, with his record so far being P 49, W 18, D 17, L 14. This means he has won 71 points from a possible 147, and has a win percentage of 36.73%, fairly solid mid table form from the Silver Supremo so far, boosted of course by an excellent unbeaten run of eleven games at the start of this season. Here’s hoping we can recapture some of that against an Arsenal side who seem to have been well and truly back in form in their last three games (including one Champion’s League game), seeing them just about holding on to their usual position in the top four, with a little help from struggling Chelsea below them in fifth.
Looking forward to this evening’s game, Newcastle United midfield maestro, Yohan Cabaye had this to say:
“This was my dream when I was young and I’ve worked very hard for that, to play in these type of games,”
“It’s a big match and I want to play in this sort of match.
“That’s why I came to the Premier League; to play against Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and in big derbies, like the one against Sunderland last weekend.
“Tonight will be a big game for us, and for them as well. I hope we get a good result, a draw or a win, because for a European place it could be important to us.”
As usual, we shall be endeavour to put up the official team sheets when they become available. The game will be televised in the UK on Sky, but if any links, please feel free to post them.
Howay the lads!
Team sheets
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Song, Rosicky, Walcott, Van Persie, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Subs: Gervinho, Benayoun, Ramsey, Fabianski, Djourou, Santos, Chamakh
Newcastle United: Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Obertan, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ben Arfa, Ba.
Subs: Elliot, Perch, Cissé, Vuckic , Guthrie, Gosling , Ameobi
Newcastle team line-up updated. Starts for Benny and Gabby. Gosling and Vuckic both make it to the bench.