A previous battle at Stamford Bridge.Venue: Stamford Bridge, The Big Smoke. Date: Weds, 2nd May, 2012. Kick-Off: 7.45pm. Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
Well, it couldn’t be much closer now in the race for Europe’s premier international club competition, with Newcastle United currently being the meat in a London sandwich.
In the words of Brian Moore, “It’s all up for grabs now!” with Chelsea a mere point behind us, and only goal difference seperating the Magpies and the fighting cocks of Tottenham Hotspur. In other words, this game is without doubt the most crucial so far after our capitulation to an excellent Wigan side on Saturday. Unless of course, Chelsea go and win this years Champions League final, in which case Chelsea would definitely be the fourth team to go through, making everything else academic. One thing that is for sure is that we should at least find ourselves in the Europa League at least.
Stats, previous matches etc…
In our previous meeting (at St James’ Park last December) Chelsea ran out as 3-0 winners, with Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge doing the honours for the Pensioners. (more…)
Please Blow The WhistleVenue: D.W. Stadium, Wigan. Date: Saturday, 28th April, 2012. Kick-Off: 3.00pm. Referee: Mike Dean.
United went into this game with confidence sky high on the back of six straight wins, sitting fourth in the table and chasing an unexpected place in next season’s European Champions League.
Wigan, although one of the teams fighting relegation, had a good recent record too, having won 3 of their last 4 games beating Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal, although slipping up in their last game with a 2-1 defeat at Fulham.
This was the first of our final 4 “cup finals” and the 4500 United fans took over one end of the ground to make sure the team felt right at home in a vital away game. It was 4th top v 4th bottom with United having “momentum”. What could possibly go wrong? Surely even the ominous pre-match news that top tipster Mark “I always get them wrong” Lawrenson had tipped us to win couldn’t stop the Newcastle steamroller? (more…)
Wigan - Coming good just in time?Venue: D.W. Stadium, Wigan. Date: Saturday, 28th April, 2012. Kick-Off: 3.00pm. Referee: Mike Dean (The Wirral Whistler).
Hmm, well despite the large difference in the Magpies’ and the Latics’ respective league positions, this could well be an interesing game.
Roberto Martinez and Atletico Wigan’s progress has followed a fairly similar pattern to that of last season, ie staring into the abyss most of the time, then finally pulling themselves together for a string of stylish and surprising results which look like pulling them out of the mire at the eleventh hour, well they would if fellow strugglers, Queen’s Park Rangers hadn’t decided to pull off one or two surprising results of their own as the Premiership season edges towards it’s denouement. The catalyst for this change in form seems to have been a switch from what has looked like a 4-5-1 formation earlier in the season, to a highly offensive Cruyffian style 3-4-3 formation from Señor Martinez. Of course, our Silver Supremo, Alan Pardiola, has been on a similar road to Damascus recently, switching from his old 4-4-2 to more attacking 4-3-3 which has reaped remarkable dividends with the electrifying form of players such as Hatem Ben Arfa and new boy, Papiss Cisse, leading the way.
Cabaye bags a brace in win against StokeThe march towards Europe continues as Newcastle comfortably beat Stoke 3-0 at St James’ Park with goals from Cabaye (2) and Cisse.
Two weeks seems like a long wait between games, particularly when Newcastle have the winning momentum with them. Time seemed to pass so slowly that I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve entered a new geological era in the interim. The tediolithic, perhaps. However, the winning momentum hadn’t deserted us and Newcastle cruised to a well-deserved win over Stoke.
It took us a while to get warmed up to things though. For the first 14 minutes we probed Stoke a little but didn’t really threaten and Stoke had the best of the early chances. On 7 minutes Etherington floated a long shot over our bar and a few minutes later Crouch headed a ball across to Walters who was right in front of goal and a mere yard or two away from it, but he couldn’t control the ball enough to get a decent shot off.
But then we started to play. Santon brought the ball up the left and started working it with Benny, who broke off to the left of the box, plying his mesmerising skills as usual. Benny got a cross in across goal and Cisse headed onto the bar but Yohan Cabaye was lurking to put the rebound into the net. 1-0. (more…)
Newcastle United v Bolton - The whole match!Full match video of today’s Newcastle United v Bolton game. A 2-0 victory featuring a superb solo goal from Hatem Ben Arfa, and a further goal from Papiss Cisse which featured an excellent assist from Shola Ameobi.
