Game On! Fulham v Newcastle

Game On at Craven Cottage
Another Monday night and another Premier League game involving Newcastle United being broadcast around the world takes place this evening, but will the result be in the same direction as the last one?

That last one being a rather comfortable 3-0 victory over ten man Wigan Athletic at St James’ Park a week ago. It perhaps wouldn’t have been as comfortable as the scoreline suggested had the visitors had a full compliment of players, but a win is a win and it’s points on the board we so badly need.

The win last week was annoying though as we failed to move up any places in the table. It’s valued all the same, but to win a game and not move up the table feels as though you are running on a treadmill, trying to go the right way but ultimately not going anywhere. Tonight though at least a victory would move us up one place leapfrogging Fulham in the process but it will be a tough ask as detailed in my match preview which you can view by clicking the blue text.

The good news in that preview is the potential return of a number of key players such as Davide Santon, Demba Ba and Cheik Tiote, who were all left at home for the trip to Bordeaux midweek, along with a potential return to action for Hatem Ben Arfa who has missed the last few games with a hamstring strain. Of course the only way we’ll find out who is fit is by looking at the official team news which will be added in below as and when it becomes available.

As mentioned at the very top, we are being broadcast globally this evening so hopefully there will be streams available for those who aren’t fortunate enough to be at Craven Cottage this evening, for those outside of the UK or for those inside the UK who don’t have access to Sky TV. Normal rules apply with regard to posting links for fellow NUFC fans.

Which just about wraps this up really as I don’t need to add much more. Needless to say I’m hoping for a committed performance from the start this time and I’d also quite like to see Damien Duff not turn into Superman just because he is playing us. A result would be nice also…

Howay the lads!

Fulham: Mark Schwarzer, Sascha Riether, Aaron Hughes, Brede Hangeland, John Arne Riise, Damien Duff, Steve Sidwell, Chris Baird, Alexander Kacaniklic, Dimitar Berbatov, Hugo Rodallega

Subs: Neil Etheridge, Kieran Richardson, Philippe Senderos, Giorgos Karagounis, Mahamadou Diarra, Ashkan Dejagah, Mladen Petric

Newcastle: Tim Krul; Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon; Vurnon Anita, Cheik Tiote; Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jonas Gutierrez; Demba Ba

Subs: Steve Harper, Shane Ferguson, James Tavernier, James Perch, Gael Bigirimana, Sylvain Marveaux, Shola Ameobi

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.

229 thoughts on “Game On! Fulham v Newcastle

  1. i’ve got to say that relegation holds no fears for me – i enjoyed it so much in the championship (and i’m deadly serious)

    plus it will give that fat useless nowt ashley a big kick in the knackers for being such a tight ****

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  2. Llambias is an easy target but I cannot believe even he would give long contracts to Shola and Jonas unless Pardew had pushed it. I cannot understand his love affair with Shola. I could not believe it when I saw he was on the bench. If Pardew cannot see the weaknesses in senior players then heaven help the youngsters, they have no chance of being developed.

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  3. Sharpy@216 – 25 points from the back half of the season is far-fetched? You should take those dark sunglasses off once in a while – they’re not much use at this time of year! 😉

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  4. In fairness I don’t think we played that badly last night – but we defended like a pub team, which to be honest we have done all season. We just cannot expect to win too many games when we cannot defend.

    A right back and a centre half in January and I think we’ll improve no end.

    But lets be clear (and Pardew has said this) we made a huge mistake in the summer. Every successful club builds and improves their squad from a position of strength – we haven’t we have weakened ours and I just hope it’s not long lasting damage.

    I really believe that our big players are not happy and feel they have been let down by the club – hopefully a good January will change that, but don’t hold your breath.

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