Team News:
Newcastle United:
It’s fair to say that the fans have been calling out for quality defensive reinforcements for several transfer windows now and yet again the club failed to address the area in January. As a result, we were one injury away from crisis and hey presto! Chancel Mbemba has now been ruled out for several weeks with an ankle injury. His replacement Jamaal Lascelles got himself sent off so misses out today leaving only Captain Fabricio Coloccini and an injury prone hot and cold running Steven Taylor available, who will be lacking match sharpness. At left back Paul Dummett has aggravated his hamstring and sits out for a while whilst Massaido Heidara remains absent until mid March with a knee complaint. Kevin Mbabu returns to the squad carrying a knock and may have to fill in again. Jack Colback (hamstring) is out until next week at the earliest whilst Vurnon Anita and Gabriel Obertan are carrying the same injury. Siem De Jong (eye) may or may not return to the squad today. Tim Krul and Curtis Good are out for the season. Seydou Doumbia is not fit enough to start according to McClaren, but Cheick Tiote returns to the squad following his collapsed move to China. Youngsters Callum Williams, Liam Gibson and Dan Barlaser have all been training with the first team this week.
West Bromwich Albion:
Jonny Evans and James Morrison (both hamstring) are out for 3 and 5 weeks respectively. Callum McManaman has been ruled out by an ankle injury until the beginning of March whilst Chris Brunt (calf strain) is expected back next week. Otherwise it’s a clean bill of health for the Baggies even though Tony Pullis has hinted that Newcastle transfer target Saido Berahino is unlikely to start as he gathers match fitness. Expect him to come off the bench and put us to the sword then….
Shamrock’s stats and facts:
1) The first ever game between these sides took place in 1898, finishing 3-0 to to the Magpies.
2) West Brom have failed to win on the road in the last 6 attempts.
3) Newcastle have won 6 of their 9 home Premier League games in this fixture.
4) Victor Anichebe has scored more times against the Toon than any other PL side (5).
5) West Bromwich Albion have scored 39% of their goals from headers this season, a PL high.
6) Newcastle have filed to keep a clean sheet for 9 games.
Referee:
Officiating today is 44-year-old Lee Mason from Bolton. Of the 19 Toon games he has officiated since 2010, Newcastle have won only 6. He has taken only one Magpies fixture against the Baggies, which took place at the Hawthorns and finished 1-0 to West Brom. Lee Mason caused controversy when he failed to award Newcastle a stone-wall penalty when we were 1 goal down against Liverpool in April 2015. Lovren hacked down Perez and Liverpool went on to win 2-0. Overall though, he is a steady and experienced referee that generally gets the big calls right. He’s just not a lucky omen for us!
Kick off at 15:00, St. James’ Park.
Lineups:
Toon: 21 Elliot, 22 Janmaat, 27 Taylor, 2 Coloccini, 16 Aarons, 12 Shelvey, 24 Tioté, 7 Sissoko, 5 Wijnaldum, 25 Townsend, 45 Mitrovic. Substitutes: 17 Pérez, 23 Saivet, 26 Darlow, 28 Doumbia, 35 Gibson, 40 Williams, 47 Barlaser.
Baggies: 1 Foster, 25 Dawson, 23 McAuley, 3 Olsson, 4 Chester, 5 Yacob, 30 Sandro, 8 Gardner, 24 Fletcher, 14 McClean, 10 Anichebe. Substitutes: 13 Myhill, 15 Pocognoli, 17 Lambert, 18 Berahino, 20 Pritchard, 29 Sessegnon, 33 Rondón.
HWTL
Georgio. Oh too true. Isn’t always the case that the finer the detail and the less the importance, the greater the enthusiasm and battle lines. Oh and I’ll have another pint please.
Premandup(Quote)
NEWKIE
I agree with you. The Man City goal should have been given, but I think there was enough doubt for the West Brom goal to have been disallowed.
Beautiful shot from Tiote though. I’d have loved to have seen what happened if Mitrovic hadn’t been there!
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
An offside debate isn’t a bad thing to talk about is it? It’s proper football.
A debate on whether Shola was a good servant for NUFC would get boring pretty quickly though…
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
TDS – Aye, he only hits about 1% of his shots cleanly but when he does, they’re a thing of beauty.
Maybe tell all our boys to hit the deck if they are offside in order to get him that second goal he’s been dying for for all of 5 years 😆
Newkie(Quote)
NEWKIE
He likes putting it in the back of the net at crucial times too! Would have been great to get a draw at least against City, first goal against West Brom was huge and of course the Arsenal goal… 🙂
ToonDarnSarf(Quote)
That new Premier League logo is a bit ****. It will fit in well with the advertising boards at SJP.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I believe we have turned a corner now and we will stay up. A draw to Chelsea away and then a nice bit of sand, and sun. Lovely.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
I’m seeing four more wins and two draws in the crystal sphere now. That would be 38 points. More than enough this season. We may even grab 16th place.
GeordieTwo(Quote)
And I’m very serious about that. 16th place is not beyond wor grasp….
GeordieTwo(Quote)
wow there is a lot of bitching and accusations flying around on .com…. 😯
Shamrock(Quote)
Anyone far off completing an article or shall I knock one up?
Shamrock(Quote)
Fair play NUFC. They have reduced U 18’s ticket prices for next season by half in some cases. £57 for a season ticket – now that’s good value!
Stuart79(Quote)
SHAMROCK mine Will take a while yet , i am busy with work but hope too formulate and produce one before the weekend . I have a few diffrent ideas running around in my head.
AXEL(Quote)
STUART they probably reduced the prices because they hardly win 😯 😉
AXEL(Quote)
Ne worries dude. No rush. I know TDS said he was doing research on one earlier and Newkie possibly working on something too. I’ll just write a filler article to keep us going if nothing imminent. Really looking forward to some new people’s material though. Hopefully it becomes a regular thing again. We used to have lots of regular contributors but I think Mike Ashley scared them all away!
Shamrock(Quote)
Just done 8 days in a row at work so enjoying 3 off now – though I swear ‘time off’ at home is more exhausting than being at work. That’s kids for you though!
Shamrock(Quote)
So you’re suggesting you might get knocked up then Shamrock mate? 😯
GeordieTwo(Quote)
The offside/technology conversation has been the most interesting thing to happen on here for months. It got people to use new words. A really lovely change from the same old comments.
Interesting we think that money is ruining the game yet people want to change the rules to protect the owner’s dosh.
Brisvegas(Quote)
Bris – I agree with you. I haven’t had much time to post with being at work but I’ve kept an eye on the comments.
My suggestion this morning about sides getting 2 challenges per game wasn’t just with the offside rule in mind – it was the City v Everton cup game recently. City scored, but the ball actually went out of play before Sterling (I think) crossed the ball in – that potentially knocked Everton out the cup and stopped them from getting to a final.
Now Everton could have used their 2 challenges before that incident, in which case tough tits 😆
Sharpy17(Quote)
New post >>>>>>>>>
Shamrock(Quote)
So Doumbia may have to move here permanently after playing a certain number of games….
Just our luck the only player we signed to score goals may be hampered with our reluctance to make the deal permanent 🙄
Gashley(Quote)