Newcastle v West Brom – Premier League match preview

A warm welcome to West Bromwich Albion
A warm welcome to West Bromwich Albion
Newcastle United will attempt to record a fourth successive victory tomorrow afternoon as West Bromwich Albion visit St James’ Park.

So far it’s been a perfect November which has rained nothing but wins for Alan Pardew who must take some of the credit for this recent run given that he is quick to have the flak aimed in his direction when things go wrong.

A fourth league win on the spin would be our best sequence of results since that late season charge in March/April 2012 which saw us qualify for Europe at the end of that campaign. Coincidentally three points against Steve Clarke’s Baggies would likely see us climb the table and occupy a European space come the end of the evening depending on results elsewhere of course.

Newcastle:

Mathieu Debuchy is available once more after missing the victory against Norwich weekend due to suspension. Moussa Sissoko and Yohan Cabaye are just one yellow card each away from joining Debuchy on the naughty step for one game as a result of the five yellow card “totting up” process.

Mike Williamson will continue in defence but the question mark will be over who partners him. For me Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa has done nothing wrong and should retain his place but his shift out to the right of defence to deputise for Debuchy last weekend makes it likely that Captain Colo will resume his role in the centre of defence.

Jonas Gutierrez is back in training and Paul Dummett should be contention for a place on the bench whilst Haris Vuckic and James Tavernier have both once again headed out on loan with both players making the switch to League One outfit Rotherham United.

West Brom:

Steve Clarke has been very ague in the build up to the match and has admitted that he has lots of niggling injury problems but remained coy on which players were affected and whether they are affected badly enough to miss the trip to Tyneside.

What we do know however is that Scott Sinclair, Billy Jones and Liam Ridgewell have been sidelined in recent weeks. All of them are nearing comebacks for Albion but none are expected to be fit enough to start tomorrow.

Previously…

Previously there have been lots of goals between the two sides! Seriously…

There is a perception that West Brom have been a bogey side for us in recent years but previous encounters don’t back that notion up. Last season we drew 1-1 at The Hawthorns after beating the 2-1 at St James’ Park. The season before that they beat us 3-2 at St James’ Park before we took all three points in a 3-1 victory in the Black Country.

At St James’ Park there have been 59 matches played with United winning 29 times compared to 17 victories for West Brom with 13 draws played out between the two sides.

Overall West Brom just shade the head-to-head having won 43 of the previous encounters compared to United’s 42 wins. Add another 32 draws between the two clubs into the equation and that should total 117 matches in all competitions between the two sides.

Match stats and facts…

The Baggies have won just one of seven Premier League games away to Newcastle.

Lyon are the only side from the top five European leagues to have scored more goals courtesy of French players.

Victor Anichebe has scored more Premier League goals against Newcastle United than against any other team.

Albion have drawn four of their last six league games but only lost once in the last nine games.

Final thought…

Well I’m still waiting for us to crash and burn if I’m honest with you. That’s not to say that I want us to lose, far from it in fact and I’d be delighted if this run continues. However it’s going to end sometime and with things going so well wouldn’t it just be very Newcastle for something to go drastically wrong in this one?

Having said that we do look pretty neat. We’ve been fairly solid in defence, have played some decent stuff and right now I always fancy us to score a goal or two with players like Loic Remy, Yoan Gouffran and even Shola Ameobi in good form. Let’s hope that continues against West Brom.

Howay the lads!

Date: Saturday, 30th November, 2013

Time: 5:30pm

Venue: St James’ Park

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About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

84 thoughts on “Newcastle v West Brom – Premier League match preview

  1. “Gomis, Long, Finnbogason, Vossen, Toivonen”

    Its doubtful any of them would get near 15-20 in the premier league either: Long i really rate and would definately sign in january for his work rate and link play, Great foil but not a consistant goalscorer. Finbogason is playing in the ***** dutch league where altidore can get 25 goals its a risk as impressive as he looks over there, Gomis and Vossen also untried here and could go one way or the other.

    Cisse would have breezed 15+ last season if he hadnt had so many goals legitimate goals chalked off. He got over 20 in top leagues in the previous two and he will come good again, Incidents like last week cant help the lad he must be ready to throttle some of these inept twats posing as linesman…

      (Quote)

  2. I shouldnt have said ***** dutch league as players like siem De Jong, Clasie, Bojan, Maher, Narsingh would be great for us.

    Just meant a lot of strikers have scored plenty against the lesser lights of the eredivisie and not replicated it over here.

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  3. Ok guys, so far this season Pardew’s favourite team has been:

    ——————————Krul————————–
    Debuchy———Mbiwa———Colo———Santon
    Ben Arfa—Sissoko—Cabaye—Tiote—Gouffran
    ——————————Cisse————————

      (Quote)

  4. Our best performing team has been as follows (not sure which is our best defensive partnership so far – i haven’t checked):

    ——————————-Krul—————————-
    Debuchy—–Williamson—–Colo/MYM—–Santon
    ——————–Cabaye———-Anita—————–
    —————————–Ben Arfa———————–
    Gouffran——————-Cisse——————-Remy

    The only big difference is Anita vs Sissoko
    The only small difference is Tiote vs Ben Arfa

      (Quote)

  5. Players that haven’t been given a chance(yet), to show what they’re capable of are:

    Sylvain Marveaux
    Paul Dummett
    Steven Taylor
    Jonás Gutiérrez
    Sammy Ameobi
    Gabriel Obertan
    Gael Bigirimana
    Massadio Haidara

    Of these players, I would say Marveaux should have had more games but I’m not sure why he hasn’t (injuries?). He provided the most assists for us last season as well as being one of the top 5 assist makers in the league last season. 😯

    Either Sammy Ameobi or Obertan should go out on loan.

    Bigirmana should go out on loan

    Either Dummett or Haidara should go out on loan.

      (Quote)

  6. Pardew must be hoping:

    a) some first 11 players get injured so that he can select the likes of Ben Arfa, Jonas & Taylor without upsetting anyone

    b) Some out of favour players like Ben Arfa, Jonas & Taylor get injured (stay injured) so that he doesn’t have a selection headache.

      (Quote)

  7. I said it in the summer & i still have the same opinion:

    Without the Europa League we already have almost enough players.

    We need a long term replacement for Ameobi (& sign a Remy type player on a Permanent basis)

    We need a long term replacement for Taylor, Williamson, & Colo (in that order).

    We need to get Obertan or Sammy Ameobi playing more games (for us or on loan), otherwise we need a winger.

    TLDR:
    2 forwards next summer (maybe 1 if Adam Campbell is any good)
    2 centre backs next summer (maybe 1 if Curtis Good is any good)
    1 winger if Obertan or Sammy Ameobi don’t step it up.

      (Quote)

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