Wigan Athletic vs Newcastle United – Preview

After a 4-0 win last time out, Newcastle United and Rafa Benitez will no doubt be looking to build on the momentum from the game against Birmingham, as they face a tough away trip to Wigan Athletic.

Going into the game, Newcastle are rightly heavy favourites. The Tynesiders have strength in depth and quality across the park, perhaps so much so that come the season they should find themselves in an even more comfortable position than they do at the moment.

Dwight Gayle bagged a hat-trick against Birmingham and will be hoping that he gets the chance to add to his tally for the season.

However, Gayle will be unlikely to get anywhere near as many chances in this game, as the magpies are away from home, so he will have to be far more clinical than he was, for example, away to Hull.

However, with Gayle’s obvious quality and form, he should be fancied to do so.

Another talking point is whether Jamaal Lascelles will start the game. The Newcastle captain has recently been linked with Liverpool and whether or not he features in the starting line-up should show the validity of those claims.

Personally, I see no reason why Lascelles will not start the game, as it is highly unlikely that he will join Liverpool.

122 thoughts on “Wigan Athletic vs Newcastle United – Preview

  1. Cheers Jake. Looking forward to getting a link tonight.

    I just spotted the thread was accidentally scheduled for tomorrow morning, hence the thread being late.

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  2. so Brum sack their manager!!!! hes been doing ok they won last night what the hell do they want the guy has had no money

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  3. Here’s to a good result tonight. Wigan will be well up for it and have nothing to lose, so I’m slightly concerned but if we are going to be champions then we need to get results consistently no matter who or where we play.

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  4. Shamrock:
    Here’s to a good result tonight. Wigan will be well up for it and have nothing to lose, so I’m slightly concerned but if we are going to be champions then we need to get results consistently no matter who or where we play.

    Exactly. Well said Sham. The 1st goal will be tough. But once we get it, the game will be easier for us.

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  5. Shelvey & Hayden are the best midfield we’ve had for years IMO. Could be better than Cabaye and Tiote. They should be aiming at the England squad looking at the options there at the moment. Henderson, Dier. 😕

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  6. DJg as you will know I can’t speak highly enough of Hayden. Absolute workhorse, very effective and really drives the team forward. So much more to his game than Colback for example.

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  7. Canny goal that like. Although we need to start playing better as they have got behind us a couple of times and looked dangerous.

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  8. This stream is terrible … keeps stopping… ok with the first half. Need to do more in second though

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  9. I wonder what the plan is for January? Some spending to reinforce what we already have? For the Prem I think we need another CB and a striker, as well as a LB. We don’t use Mitro enough to know whether he will come good for us.

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  10. Anybody watching the game live? How is it going?

    Scum losing. Do you think Moyes might quit? He has been told there is no money in January.

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  11. I think I’d be bringing on Yedlin to try and push their left winger back. I also think he’s a better defender than Anita.

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  12. He sounds like a super hero.

    Or a private detective.

    Dubai Toon:
    They have a player called Max Power… lol his parent were having a laugh…

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  13. Wigan just look resigned to defeat. You can see why they haven’t scored at home since September, their players just don’t look like they believe. I’d be amazed if they stay up. Can tell a few years have passed since the PL Dave Whelan days of bankrolling them. Ashley might have had a wry smile tonight. Fair play to them though, it is a town that is probably 40% Rugby League, a bit like Hull. They won the 12-13 FA cup, what have we won? 😯

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  14. Top 2 are distancing themselves from the rest now. If you look at our and Brighton’s GD we are streets ahead of our nearest rivals. That usually tells as big of a story as the actual points gained. I think at this time us and Hughton’s team are clearly the class of the league. There is nothing I would like better than both to go up with us as Champions of course.

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  15. Tonight’s performance is exactly what I mean when I ask for comprehensive performances & wins. It wasn’t pretty, but how could it be with 11 players in their own half for most of the match.

    I don’t expect us to blow teams away every game, but tonight we bossed the game and found a way – that’s all I ask. Job well done boys ?.

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  16. Potential concerns looking ahead though – Shelvey has his hearing soon and could be missing for around 5 games.
    Diame & Atsu will be leaving for the ACoN in a few weeks time and will also miss around 5/6 games.

    They are 3 in form and key players to be without in my opinion – January could be a really tricky month.

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  17. I fancy Rafa to have his eye on a PL quality player or two, Sharpy for January.

    Personally I think Feb/March will be the months we start to open up a bigger gap at the top due to our squad and also Rafa’s rotation strategy.

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  18. Sharpy. aye mate, those 3 will be a big loss , hopefully Rafa has a plan to deal with the situation going forward.

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  19. Diame has been pretty poor so far, and Atsu is too lightweight and cannot force his way into the starting line up. We won’t miss them when the Afcon comes round.

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  20. good win nice 3 points,but was very un-happy with the amount of crosses that flew across our box from the right wing if Wigan had a half decent striker we would have been beaten,yes nice to win but we cannot overlook the weakness we have in the side our l/b never stopped any crosses going into our box its a worry imo

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  21. Obviously very pleased with three points last night but in the second half we created our own problems by using high balls up field. Nine times out of ten this surrenders possession to the opposition. And what chance does Gayle have with high balls against six foot defenders? We play well when we keep the ball low.

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  22. Watched the game finally and it was very scrappy. There were a few players who seemed off form like Clark and Ritchie, but the quality of Shelvey and Hayden saw us through. Shelvey looks the best player in this league by a mile. Since he lost weight he also seems to have gained a little bit of pace, not much, but he is quicker to the ball now. Maybe that is just confidence and desire.

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  23. They haven’t – it was Birmingham and they’ve appointed Zola.

    Boring game last night, low quality all round and our back four seemed full of little errors, Better teams would punish that.
    Mind you, that was some goal from Diame.

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  24. I know some on here say to move on but allow me some schadenfreude with Pardew. I had a running feud with the Troysta on here about Arrogant Alan, and Stavers was crowing very loudly when Pards got off to a good start at Palace. Some on here said “just wait”. Now with 6 wins in 41 games he is in Ugly John win % territory. Is that “average”? He does the same at every team he manages and now the Palace fans have turned on “one of their own”. They have Chelsea, Watford and Arsenal up next. Good luck with that one Alan.

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  25. OH God, it is even worse than I thought. It is Chelsea at home, which being a London derby sort of negates the home advantage. Plus they are playing the league leaders who have won 10 in a row. Then it is Watford and Arsenal away. They could end up with no points with or without Arrogant Alan with what a lot of Palace fans are saying is the best squad they have ever had.

    He replaced a midfielder with a striker on 88 mins last night whilst drawing against a Man U team with Zlatan and Pogba in it 🙂

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  26. Poor old Andros…actually I have no sympathy, players who fail to see the bigger picture deserve everything they get when joining clubs.

    Eric Sykes:
    Meanwhile, Andros remains in the doghouse.

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  27. Eric only time will tale if Pard’s can turn thing’s around mate. I could never understand why Troy stuck up for him so much. I remember one time me and Kimtoon said we needed a set piece coach to come in and help Pard’s because he was clearly useless at it. He thought we were both stupid for suggesting it but we both knew Ashley wouldn’t sack him, hence the reason Pard’s needed a set piece coach.

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  28. Andy Magpie:
    Poor old Andros…actually I have no sympathy, players who fail to see the bigger picture deserve everything they get when joining clubs.

    agree 100% in this case i cannt it was down to money,or was it??

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  29. Andros runs the very real risk of being relegated and swapping positions with Toon whilsy hr can’t even get a game. D’oh!

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  30. I doubt Palace were offering him much more clout were they? I think he wanted Prem football but should have waited another season and got more regular football with us.

    icedog: agree 100% in this case i cannt it was down to money,or was it??

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  31. More on Andros. There is a website called Football365 that has a daily mailbox and after every game a very articulate Palace fan gets his thoughts on their game published, among some musings on football in general. This is what he said about Townsend today:

    “His (Pardew’s) selections and substitutions really annoyed people. I would presume Lee was brought in to the side because Pardew believes he is a harder worker than Andros Townsend, and also to teach Townsend a lesson for disappointing in previous games. However, the decision to withdraw Lee with the game at 1-1 and bring on full-back Zeki Fryers in an advanced position instead of Townsend, made little sense and will only damage the confidence of one of the Premier League’s most confidence-dependent outfield players.”

    I don’t really know that much about Palace, but isn’t that just typical of Pards to bring on a fullback as a winger when you have a 14 million pound actual winger sitting next to him. It is almost like at NUFC where he would want our wingers to play as auxiliary fullbacks and now he wants fullbacks to play as actual wingers 🙂

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  32. I know I am twisting the knife, but Troysta deserves it. And I didn’t even bring up Kilmarnock’s own Clarky 🙂

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  33. I did see someone mention that there could be 3 managers connected with NUFC get promoted. Rafa, of course, Hughton and Schteve has Derby playing well now.

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  34. Burton have lost their last two and languish 4th from bottom so on paper we should beat them but these are the games we seem to slip up in.

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  35. Kimtoon:
    Burton have lost their last two and languish 4th from bottom so on paper we should beat them but these are the games we seem to slip up in.

    well at least we have a PL ref for this game,will that help ???

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  36. Chelsea are a team which Pardew has the heeby jeeby’s on, it wouldn’t surprise me if Palace didn’t spoil their record and go head to head and give it large against Conte.. !

    Eric Sykes, Shelvey looks good because he has found his level mate. He also sits deep on the back four or in front of the left back and has loads of time to play square or long balls with zero pressing..

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  37. icedog: you and lew got your xmas sorted mate??

    Yeah mate all ready just lots of problems with the move really. My buyer is a bit of a slow coach at sorting things out and I have reduced my offer on the bungalow due to the roof needing refelting but otherwise fine mate.

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  38. Kimtoon: Yeah mate all ready just lots of problems with the move really. My buyer is a bit of a slow coach at sorting things out and I have reduced my offer on the bungalow due to the roof needing refelting but otherwise fine mate.

    Good to hear mate,about time your luck changed a bit

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  39. Well, heading home to the Toon tomorrow morning. Looking forward to getting home for 3 weeks. Got my tickets for Sheffield and Forest matches… ???

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  40. Dubai Toon:
    Well, heading home to the Toon tomorrow morning. Looking forward to getting home for 3 weeks. Got my tickets for Sheffield and Forest matches…

    good on you mate,enjoy and bring luck with you

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