Going all out for 4th placeNewcastle United gained a valuable 3 points at Stamford Bridge that keep the prospects of a Champions League finish alive. Here’s some reaction to the match and to the prospect of playing Manchester City on Sunday.
Mancini was in the crowd at Stamford Bridge yesterday, no doubt composing his tactics for the weekend’s game when Manchester City visit St James Park. And it’s going to be a high-pressure game for both teams, neither of which can afford to drop points if they’re to achieve their respective targets for the season.
Pardew is going to go all out for a 4th place finish and Champions League qualification:
“It’s not often in a professional career that you get an opportunity to actually break into the top four in this country,” said Pardew.
“We’ve been in and around it all year, we’ve touched fourth placed and touched third a couple of times.
“We’re going to give it everything. If we miss out, it’ll still have been a phenomenal season and I’m looking forward to the highlights video because some of the goals have been unbelievable, they really have.” (more…)
Do it for Benny!Newcastle host title chasing Manchester City in a rare Boxing Day match on Tyneside, but in contrast to the plummeting tempaertaures, the atmosphere could be as hot as ever after the ill feeling harvested as a result of the reverse fixture at the City of Manchester Stadium back in October comes to the fore.
Newcastle played really well on the day and deserved much more than they got from the match. Martin Atkinson, the match referee for that game, awarded Man City a penalty for a challenge that was outside the box, but then failed to send Mike Williamson off for being the last man, which should have been the case if it was a foul. He also missed a blatant penalty that should have been awarded to Newcastle after Joleon Lescott hacked down Shola Ameobi in the penalty area. Perhaps the biggest contributing factor to the ill feeling is the fate of Hatem Ben Arfa, who had his leg broke in two places after a lunge by Nigel de Jong. Apparently this was deemed as a fair tackle, and Atkinson waved play on despite the Frenchman being on the ground writhing in pain. (more…)
Can Carroll be the key to survival?The month of December will mark the half way point in the Premier League season, and will hopefully give us an indication of whether or not we look set for survival or struggle for the rest of the season.
Of course nothing will be guaranteed, but it should give us a decent idea of where we stand with regards to ensuring Premier League football for next season.
With the way the season has gone so far it would be foolish to count any chickens until safety is mathematically assured. Teams are taking points from each other, from top to bottom, in what is turning out to be a very tight Premier League season. A couple of wins can push a team into a European spot, but also a couple of results that go against you could see a team being sucked into the relegation zone.
Luckily for us it has been the former so far this season, but there is always a chance that we could hit a sticky patch of form. Some will say that we are in one now having only taken two points from a possible 12 on offer, but all that really matters is getting enough points on the board to survive this season. I couldn’t give a toss where the points invariably come from, as long as we have enough come May. (more…)
