Newcastle United have a huge opportunity tonight in our push for a top five finish and chance to capitalise on some favourable results over the weekend.
We take on a Leicester City side who look down and out under Ruud Van Nistelrooy and must make the most of the fact all of Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Man City, Brighton and Bournemouth all failed to win over the past 48 hours.
It’s arguably our most winnable game of the run in and BBC pundit Chris Sutton hasn’t held back when discussing our opponents in a preview for tonight’s 8pm kick-off.
Sutton’s brutal preview
In his latest prediction piece for BBC Sport, former Blackburn striker Chris Sutton has absolutely slated Leicester and backed Eddie Howe’s Mags to win comfortably.
Sutton watched the Foxes’ 2-0 defeat at Man City last week and described their display as “pathetic”, revealing that they showed no ambition, waved the white flag from the off and “didn’t even try to score.”
They are now 15 points from safety and everything but mathematically relegated, losing 14 of their last 15, suffering seven defeats in a row and failing to score a single goal at home since a 2-2 draw with Brighton on 8th December!
In a scathing review ahead of tonight’s game, Sutton even claimed we’d beat them if hungover from cup celebrations – but doesn’t think complacency will creep in after our 2-1 win over Brentford last Wednesday:
“Leicester should have been relegated immediately for what they did at Etihad Stadium last Wednesday. For a team who are desperate for a win, they showed absolutely zero attacking intent even when they went two goals down.
“All they were interested in was building a wall and just stopping Manchester City. I felt sorry for their travelling fans because the team offered no threat whatsoever, and didn’t even try to score.
“I can understand that everyone has a gameplan, but usually that changes when you go a goal or two behind. At 2-0, however, Leicester took their star striker Jamie Vardy off to put another midfielder on.
“That tells you where Leicester are at right now – it felt like they were waving the white flag and going for damage limitation, rather than thinking they might as well give it a go and risk conceding more goals.
“We know how nervy Manchester City have been this season, and Leicester caused them problems when they had a go at them at King Power Stadium at the end of last year.
“This time, there was none of that. They were pretty pathetic and you have got to question what their manager Ruud van Nistelrooy was thinking.
“His team have lost their past seven league games and have not scored in any of them, and it is even longer since they managed a point or a league goal at home.
“That is not going to change here. Newcastle got an important win over Brentford in midweek to show there was no hangover from their Carabao Cup celebrations. Even if they hit the hotel mini-bar again on Sunday night, it wouldn’t matter – they would still beat Leicester.”
Sutton’s prediction: Leicester 0-2 Newcastle
A massive night for Newcastle
It’s absolutely vital we stay focused tonight and don’t turn up believing we’ll steamroll a Leicester side in awful form.
I’m sure we’ll be confident, but that can’t turn into complacency, as this is a huge chance to capitalise on several of our European rivals dropping points over the weekend.
With Aston Villa and Chelsea both moving back above us over the last few days, this is a must-win game in our push for Champions League football.
