Stop what you’re doing folks, Paul Merson has predicted Newcastle to beat Swansea at St James’ Park on Saturday – however the Sky pundit does believe it’s a must win for us, stating we’ll be in ‘big trouble’ if we fail to take all three points.
Merson expects a ‘cagey’ game and says this one is ‘hard to call’, but believes we will come through 1-0 winners in this six pointer at the bottom.
Here’s Paul’s pre-match assessment via his weekly prediction piece for Sky Sports:
“This is another game that’s hard to call.
“Swansea were great at Watford and unfortunate at home to Spurs in the last fortnight. Newcastle have to take advantage of home games though.
“If they don’t win this they will be in big trouble, so this is a game they will have highlighted as a must-win.
“I think they will just get the job done with a cagey victory.”
PREDCITON: Newcastle 1-0 Swansea
Interesting to hear him praise Swansea for their recent performances at Watford and at home to Spurs under Carlos Carvalhal, suggesting the bottom of the table side may be better than some are expecting on Saturday.
They’ll be fighting for their lives so I’m certainly not expecting them to role over.
We’ve not won 1 of our last 7 at home and they’ve won 1 of their last 7 on the road, so this one really could be hard to call. As Merson says though, we really could find ourselves back in deep trouble should we fail to win – especially with Man City away next up!
Let us know your predictions folks. Feeling confident?
