West Brom v Newcastle – Match preview.

Posted on December 4th, 2010 | 34 Comments |

The Hawthorns - Home of The Baggies.
The Hawthorns - Home of The Baggies.
A battle of two promoted teams ensues tomorrow when Newcastle head to The Midlands to take on The Baggies of West Bromwich Albion.

It’s a relatively local match for me so I shall be in attendance along with a few others off of the ‘blog, and unless there is a sudden heavy snowfall overnight there is no risk of the match being called off.

Newcastle and West Brom were locked together at the top of The Championship table this time last season, and things haven’t changed this season as both sides find themselves again locked together on 19 points in the league, although the ultimate goal for both sides is undoubtedly survival rather that chasing the title this time around.

West Brom have a good few fitness doubts ahead of the 1pm Sunday lunchtime kick-off. Chris Brunt, Ismael Miller, Peter Odemwingie, James Morrison, Paul Scharner and Nicky Shorey are all rated as doubtful for tomorrow, although I expect that some of those players will feature for The Baggies.

Two players that won’t be featuring are Jonas Olsson and Yousef Mulumbu. The former has an achilles injury whilst Mulumbu sits out the last match of his two game ban he picked up for being sent off against Everton.

West Brom beat Everton 4-1 at Goodison Park in their last league game where they lined up with a team of;

West Brom – Scott Carson, Gonzalo Jara, Paul Scharner, Gabriel Tamas, Marek Cech, Yousef Mulumbu, James Morrison, Jerome Thomas, Chris Brunt, Graham Dorrans, Peter Odemwingie.

Kevin Nolan will miss the match against West Brom as he looks to recover from the niggling ankle injury that has been dogging him for several weeks. He will join Steve Harper, Hatem Ben Arfa, Dan Gosling and Ryan Taylor who are all out with longer term injuries. Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini will serve the second match of their three match bans that they picked up as a result of the Bolton debacle.

Talking of suspensions, Joey Barton is available for selection again after missing the last three games due to the punch he administered to Morten Gamst Pedersen. I expect that he will come straight back into the side at the expense of Danny Guthrie. That will leave my team for the match looking a bit like this;

Newcastle – Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Sol Campbell, Jose Enrique, Wayne Routledge, Joey Barton, Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Shola Ameobi, Andy Carroll.

Newcastle have a fantastic league record against West Brom and haven’t lost in the last 18 matches between the two sides – a run that stretches back to Boxing Day of 1984. However, the two sides were inseparable last season as they drew both league encounters 1-1 and 2-2.

West Brom have picked up just four points from the last 18 available and have conceded goals in each of their last 14 Premier League matches.

Andy Carroll looks set to make his 100th appearance for Newcastle whilst Sol Campell looks set to make his 500th Premier League appearance.

Newcastle need to get back to winning ways having only taken two points from the last 12 available to them. Having said that, West Brom is a tough place to go to and I would be happy with a point as they will be looking for the three points themselves.

The race for survival is on.

Howay the lads!

Date – Sunday, 5th December, 2010.

Kick-off – 1:30pm.

Venue – The Hawthorns, West Bromwich.

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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Comment on this post

34 Responses

  1. Toonsy I would be happy with the team you have there, although I like Guthrie I think we need Routledge more.
    As for big Sol I thought last week was his 500th :) .
    I think we can beat them and really need to start getting pts back on the board , 1-2 to the Toon ;)

  3. I was thinking Hughton might go with Guthrie/Tiote in the middle and Barton on the right. That’s based on early and/or pre-season performances where I thought Barton & Guthrie were really good together in the middle. And Routledge as an impact sub late-on for some speed. Dunno.

    By the way, is Shola playing with an injury? Can’t remember…

  4. TOONSY like your team but would like ranger in place of shola,he should be right up for it after signing new contract

  7. A win tomorrow and we can go 7th!

    A solid 2-1 win for the lads tomorrow with Carroll and Tiote getting the goals!

    Anyone else want to see Barton on the right? and maybe Guthrie or someone in the middle maybe Vuckic? don’t think it will happen though.

  8. Here’s my Humble Predictions for December Matches.

    WBA 3points
    Liverpool 0point
    Brimingham 1point
    Man City 0point
    Spurs 0point

    Another possible of 4-5points in Month of December,and by which we would gain 23/24points.Which meets the TARGET For 2010!~~ ;)

  9. Just seen FSOTC so yes i completely agree with that maybe but i would like to see vuckic get some game time rather and then go on loan in jan

  10. Chelsea 6 game winless streak. 8O

    Strange even with the situation. Our game with the baggies is an important one, looking at the table you would think we are ok; but I think we need to get another win an on the points trail again. Last week if we hadn’t been playing Chelsea I think it might have been three points. West Brom are a strange side, they can play football far beyond their clubs level at times and rip teams apart, yet at other times they can look like a toothless championship side. They are very similar to us in that they are inconsistant and unpredictable. Last season they seemed really up for it against us though and I think that will carry over to this season so we will need to watch out.

  12. AngelOfDeath

    I hope; but also I genuinely don’t think we will get beat off Liverpool at home m8. Depending on Torres, Gerrard may be back but he won’t be 100% fit. They arn’t the same team at all since they were spanking us at SJP every season, a lot has changed since then. We have a gritty squad now that turns up against the ‘top teams’ and they are nowhere near what they were 2 years ago. Look at how they crumbled at Spurs after being 1-0 up.

  13. I think 3 points is achievable 2m , West brom are a good team on their day but I think we should have enough to see them off.

    N that is the team id go for but i think we will stat wil guthrie out right with him n barton switching as the game goes on

  14. Also the baggies are 19 points exactly the same as us and automatic promotion same as us. So technically they are more our rivals this season than anybody else and we should be looking at it as an important 6 pointer.

  15. If Shola and AC can avoid going for the same ball (watched the Chelski game again and they did it several times) then I think we can skin WB tomorrow.

    Not sure if Guthrie or ROutledge will get the shout, but either way I think we’ll get all the points.

    3-1 the toon, with Saylor, AC and Shola all netting.

    (Got to be specific; more fun if you’re right!)

  16. 2-2 newcastle draw again against the baggies. 3 matches in a row. Andy carrol to score twice. Barton and enrique to get assists. Specific enough @15.
    Barton playing on the right wing tomorrow i hope with guthrie inside of him. I see that keane is looking to move in january however it looks like harry wants to sell him rather than loan as he needs the cash for new players. I would love to see bentley at st james along with keane. A right winger that should deliver if he plays week in week out.

  18. Toonsy/JayJay – if you are off for a beer before the game its ‘The Vine’ you are after.

    Superb kebabs in the back room and a great pre match atmosphere.

    I’ll be there and my prediction is 1-3 :)

  19. Worried West Brom will pass through the backline.. they certainly have the ability. Am I wrong in thinking they can pass it around Campbell and through Taylor?? They have me worried.

    Play Barton in the middle and Routledge on the right.. If they are without their first choice LB, Routledge could have a field day. … Besides.. Guthrie’s set play was awful.. need Barton to run the middle…. no way take Tiote out.

  20. Cheers shrews, I’ll give it a call I’m sure, might have a few in the german Market before getting the train ;)

  23. Plenty of time for a beer toonsy.

    Jay jay careful with the german largers … You might not make it to the game

    :)

  30. I’ll be in The Vine aswell. BEST BAR EVER! The lads I’m travelling with are leaving half six so they don’t get stuck in traffic. :( Howay the Toon!

  31. The baggies r certainly as unpredictable as we can be but i think a draw is nailed on and a few of my hard earned pennies will be staked.

    I wouldn’t mind not collecting at the bookies if we get the three points though!!

    Agreed with the team choice, Toonsy, and we should have enough not to get beat.

    1-1?

  33. An option to be considered tomorrow is to five in the middle with Shoala being omitted for a midfield trio of Tiote Guthrie and Barton.
    For me whatever system we go with Barton has to play for his passing game

  34. Went past a shop window today there was a big sign in the window it said “We would much rather serve 500 mackems than one Geordie”…….. who said Undertakers dont have a sense of humour :-)