Will Newcastle rock The Reebok?Newcastle head to Bolton tomorrow in what could be billed as a battle of the bargain basement if you look at the transfer activity of both sides over the summer.
Neither side spent more than £5 million over the course of the summer transfer window, yet both sides sit in the top-half of the table a third of the way through the campaign.
Bolton have been playing some great stuff in recent weeks, and it’s a far cry from what used to be served up at The Reebok under Sam Allardyce. Owen Coyle is doing a magnificent job in transforming the image of Bolton Wanderers in the eyes of the nation, and they have gone from being known as long-ball cloggers to being recognised as a decent footballing side, which is much better to watch, and I am sure that the Bolton fans will agree.
Andy Carroll looks set to start tomorrow after coming through the England game in midweek without aggravating his groin injury. And it could be Shola Ameobi who partners him in attack as the striker has recovered from his hamstring injury in time for the trip to Bolton. (more…)
Coming home Newcastle.Newcastle will be looking to get back to winning ways on Saturday afternoon as they welcome Fulham to St James’ Park.
I would like to say that Newcastle will be looking for some more home comforts, but that hasn’t been the case this season and we appear to be, oddly for Newcastle, an away side.
That away form can’t go on forever though and Newcastle need to start picking up points at home, starting against Fulham, who haven’t won an away fixture in the Premier League for 24 matches now. That is an alarming stat, as whenever one of those kind of stats pops up it nearly always means that Newcastle will duly oblige and end that disappointing run for the opposition.
Joey ‘the one punch machine gun’ Barton starts his three-match ban and will miss the match. Shola Ameobi will face a late fitness test on a hamstring injury that he picked up against Blackburn, although given his past injury history I would be tempted to leave him out altogether, whilst James Perch and Leon Best are rated as doubtful for the match. Steve Harper, Dan Gosling and Hatem Ben Arfa are all still out with long-term injuries. (more…)
Eastlands - The home of Manchester City.Newcastle head to Eastlands on Sunday where they will be looking to bounce back from last weekends disappointing 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Stoke City.
The task is an unenviable one and I would happily shake hands on a point now without us having to play the match. Somehow I don’t think that City will quite go for that mind!
As Paul Reece highlighted in his ‘Top ten facts and stats to know about Manchester City’, Newcastle are without a win in at Man City in the last 17 visits. Given the quality on show at Manchester City currently I don’t hold out much hope of that run coming to an end come Sunday afternoon. Mind you, most of us said the same thing about the Everton and Chelsea matches, and look what happened there!
Pablo Zabaleta will miss the game after picking up a hamstring injury during the Europa League match against Juventus midweek whilst Nigel de Jong, David Silva and former Magpie, James Milner, will be pushing for a recall to the starting XI after being rested midweek. Adam Johnson, goalscorer in midweek, will be looking to start the match against the team he supported as a boy. (more…)
