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Match Previews

Predicted Newcastle Line Up vs Stoke City

10 years ago
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Match Preview Stoke City v Newcastle United
Saturday 12 April 3pm

Ever since Stoke let us all down by losing to Sunderland at the end of the January, they have been a team/club on the up.

In the following nine Premier League matches they only lost one game which was 1-0 to Manchester City, in the other eight the Potteries side have drawn three games and won five, including home victories over Manchester United and Arsenal.

While they went down at Chelsea last weekend which was a setback, with Newcastle’s recent form it means we now face a ninth place showdown on Saturday. A win for Stoke and they’d be only three points behind Newcastle and a better goal difference.

While Peter Crouch top scores with ten goals, it is perhaps Charlie Adam who is the key figure from midfield. As well as creating chances, Adam has also scored seven times from his middle of the pitch role. A training ground accidental collision left him with a suspected broken nose but he could well still play with a protective guard.

More importantly what are Newcastle United going to do? Alan Pardew is hoping for a change of luck and Newcastle to score first and create a bit of momentum/confidence.

Remy has been confirmed definitely out, Debuchy and Sissoko look to have no chance, the hopes are that Krul will return and that Gouffran has recovered from the knock he picked up against Manchester United, both of these spotted in training photo shots.

It doesn’t then take a genius to work out that if United are to take anything from the match, it will have to be achieved with the same group of players who have looked woeful in recent times.

Giving players such as De Jong and Gosling any pitch time just looks pointless, Gosling is out of contract and off at the end of the season while the Dutch striker has done absolutely nothing in the last three months to suggest he should be persevered with.

Carrying any threat is Newcastle’s biggest problem and something which the manager acknowledges. I’m not suggesting that there are any guarantees but exactly what we have got to lose by playing Ben Arfa and Armstrong?

Give the young Geordie striker his first start and just maybe his enthusiasm and no little talent could spark something, while giving Hatem a rare start may also reawaken something in him. Just maybe playing away from home could allow the players to relax slightly and possibly get the opposition on the back foot.

There has been absolutely nothing to suggest that this is likely as Newcastle have had three defeats in a row conceding 11 goals and failing to score, while in the last ten matches United have lost six of those games by either three or four goals and haven’t scored in any of the six.

While I take anything Alan Pardew says with a very big pinch of salt, I do agree that goals change matches, the thing is though that the United boss has to put his team out with a realistic possibility of scoring that elusive first goal and then we’ll see if the players can kick on from that.

Attack is really the best form of defence for United to take, sticking to what they have been doing is accepting almost certain failure.

Stoke City vs Newcastle United Betting – NUFC Win 29/10 – No Newcastle Goalscorer 7/5 – First Goal between 40.00-49.59 inclusive 15/2

To view all Stoke City vs Newcastle United betting click HERE (Prices can fluctuate up and down)

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