Newcastle v Sunderland: The Premier League’s premier derby
Posted on March 2nd, 2012 | 61 Comments |
Date: Sun 4th Mar 2012.
Kick-Off: High Noon.
Referee: Mike Dean.
It’s that time again. Time for the Mackems to rise the challenge of walking upright and drag themselves to St James’ Park for what is undoubtedly the best derby fixture the Premier League has on offer.
The Mackems have been somewhat rejuvenated under Martin O’Neill’s leadership although their form has stuttered a bit in their last two games. Then again, our form has suffered a similar dip in the last two games.
But form isn’t always a good indicator when it comes to derby matches anyway. Extra tension creeps in and it can sometimes be about mistakes and about which players rise to the challenge and which shirk away from it.
Both sides have been talking up the game of course. Yohan Cabaye said:
“We have to be focused on this game and work very hard all week to play well and win the game on Sunday.
“It is an unbelievable for the fans and for us as well. I hope to win for us and for the fans, because they are amazing.
“Every game at home and away from home as well the supporters are brilliant. We know what this game means for them. We will be ready and they don’t have to be worried about that.”
And Jonas said:
“It is something fantastic and something we want to enjoy. But we want to stand out in the game.
“I know they are coming here with a point to prove, and it will be difficult. We just want to get to what we have been doing.”
Although preferably not what we were doing last weekend!
Meanwhile, on behalf of the Mackems, Martin O’Neill said:
“I have experienced an awful lot of derbies, both as a player and as a manager, and in particular a very big derby in world football up in Glasgow between Celtic and Rangers
“It’s a massive game and it’s one I am looking forward to. It’s a ferocious derby and I’m sure it will be played at a great pace.
“We are away from home, which makes it difficult, but we have to be ready for it, and if we perform as strongly as we can, of course we can win it.”
And midfielder Craig Gardner said:
“It’s a massive game and a massive occasion. The last thing you want is players playing the occasion, getting sent off and giving away sloppy goals.
“You get giddy coming up to it, but once that whistle goes you just need to be professional and play your game.”
I always find these games hard to call, even on the back of our good record against the Mackems in recent years, so I decided to go for a 3-1 win for us in the prediction competition, based on hope as much as anything else!
History
Our record against Sunderland in the Premier League is pretty good, particularly in recent years.
Earlier this season we won 1-0 at the Stadium of Light thanks to a goal by Ryan Taylor. Last season we won 5-1 at home (Nolan x 3 and Ameobi x 2) and drew 1-1 away (Nolan).
There have been a couple of other high-scoring games between the teams in the Premier League years. Back in April 2006 we won 4-1 away thanks to goals from Chopra, Shearer, N’Zogbia and Luque, and there was a 3-2 thriller at St James’ Park in October 2005 (hard to believe that was 6.5 years ago): Ameobi opened the scoring for us, Liam Lawrence brought them level, Ameobi made it 2-1 and then Stephen Elliot levelled things again. Eventually it was Emre’s free kick that won the game for us.
Our biggest victory over Sunderland was 6-1 and we did that twice (October 1920 and December 1955). Sunderland beat us 9-1 in December 1908 but that doesn’t count as it was over 100 years ago (Hugh’s Law of Regressive Result Counting, Section 2, Para 3.1).
| Played | Newcastle Wins | Sunderland Wins | Draws | |
| All Premier League | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| PL At St James’ Park | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| All League Games Ever | 131 | 51 | 40 | 40 |
Recent Stats
Newcastle have accumulated just one more point than Sunderland out of the last 6 games, which might suggest its a meeting of teams in a similar run of form. Last weekend we let a 2-0 lead slip to a Wolves side who simply battled harder than we did in the second half and that slip up was on the back of a 5-1 thumping from Spurs, so we need to buck up our ideas if there really is any chance of us getting into Europe.
Sunderland must have been stung by their 4-0 defeat away at the Hawthorns last weekend and that was on the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal, so they’ll be equally anxious to regain some form.
Sunderland’s away form is won 4, drawn 2, lost 7 and our home form is won 7, drawn 4, lost 2, and of course we have the home advantage in this game. Nevertheless, I think this has all the makings of a very tense derby match.
3 points for us won’t move us up as goal difference would keep Chelsea and Arsenal above us even if they lost their games away to West Brom and away to Liverpool respectively. Of course we don’t really want Liverpool gaining any ground on us either.
| Last 6 League Games | Pts | ||||||
| Newcastle | W | L | W | W | L | D | 10/18 |
| Sunderland | L | W | W | W | L | L | 9/18 |
Team News
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Silvain Marveaux, Steven Taylor and Sammy Ameobi are still on the long-term injury list, and Leon Best is a couple of weeks away from coming back from a knee injury.
Allegedly Cisse suffered a minor groin strain and Ba and Tiote picked up ‘knocks’ last weekend but I reckon all three will be in contention for a starting place on Sunday.
Newcastle (from): Krul, Elliot, Harper, Simpson, R Taylor, Santon, Ferguson, Perch, Coloccini, Williamson, Kadar, Cabaye, Tiote, Guthrie, Obertan, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez, Gosling, Abeid, Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi, Ba, Cisse.
I reckon we’ll probably go with the same line-up as last week but maybe with Obertan on the right wing instead of Ryan Taylor. I can’t see Pardew making too many changes despite our poor display last weekend. I suspect it’ll be 4-4-2 because, well, it usually is. Having said that, we did line up with as a 4-5-1 when we played Sunderland back in August and Shola was the lone striker. I wonder if Pardew might find a place in the starting line-up for Shola on the back of his 6 goals against the mackems in recent years? Probably not – I think it’s most likely that Cisse and Ba will get the nod as front two.
SUNDERLAND
Phil Bardsley is touch and go for Sunday’s game as he picked up a calf problem during their game against West Brom. Number two keep Keiren Westwood is also doubtful with a wrist injury meaning that Craig Gordon might be on the bench as back-up for Mignolet.
Fraizer Campbell, Nicklas Bendtner and Stephane Sessegnon have all been on international duty and will face fitness assessments by O’Neill to make sure they’re recovered enough to play on Sunday.
Sunderland (from): Mignolet, Bardsley(?), Turner, Richardson, O’Shea, Cattermole, Larsson, Gardner, Colback, McClean, Sessegnon, Westwood(?), Gordon, Bridge, Kilgallon, Kyrgiakos, Meyler, Campbell, Bendtner.
Sunderland tend to look to attack from wide, which is something we should be wary of, and O’Neill is fairly flexible in his choice of formations. He could go for 4-5-1, 4-4-1-1 or even a plain 4-4-2.
Some Random Stats
We’ve conceded more goals than Sunderland – 38 to their 30 – and their tackle success rate is 78% to our 73%, but we’ve completed more passes at 73% to their 70%.
Sunderland have conceded more of their goals from headers 33% than any other Premier League team.
Sunderland get more shots on target (44% to our 43%) but we put more of our on-target shots in the net than them at 16% to their 14%.
Howay The Lads!
Poll
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.
Your table is wrong, we beat you twice, not once, at your place. 2-1 each time.