Newcastle United v Stoke City – Preview

  The Potters make the trip to the North East tomorrow to face Newcastle at St. James’ Park. The last time Stoke made the 300 kilometre journey was back in January of this year in an FA Cup Replay, Liam Lawrence scoring a late consolation for Stoke in a 4-1 loss on that night. Stoke will be hoping for a far better result this time though, travelling to Newcastle as far less of underdogs, and three points and three places ahead of the Magpies in the Premier League table. Any sort of result would be welcome for Stoke though, as despite maintaining a reasonable league position, form has been poor of late, summed up by Tuesday night’s 1-0 home loss to Derby on Tuesday night.

  Newcastle will also be very keen to take the spoils from the game. Despite former interim manager Joe Kinnear doing enough to earn himself a stay until the end of the season, the club are only above of the relegation zone on goal difference ahead of their arch rivals, the now managerless Sunderland.

  Former Newcastle defender Abdoulaye Faye will, as ever, play a key part in the Stoke defence, while centre-back Ryan Shawcross and striker Dave Kitson look set to miss the game with back and knee injuries respectively. Newcastle forward Shola Ameobi, who spent an unsuccessful six weeks on loan in the Potteries at the end of last season his ruled out with a foot and ankle injury. This won’t be a huge concern to Newcastle’s expletive loving boss though, as he still has the dangerous looking forward trio of Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, who may or may not have celebrated his fiftieth birthday yesterday, and the returning pair of Mark Viduka and Xisco to choose from.

 

Owen and Viduka are just two of a number of talented attacking players at Newcastle’s disposal

  Newcastle play a fast paced, yet sometimes laboured game, their side at times lacking in quality. Tomorrow’s match could well end as a goalless stalemate, in my opinion, if one of the few players with a little something special cannot prove to be the difference to their side. Jonas Gutierrez, who was impressive in early season but has gone off recently, and Owen spring to mind for Newcastle, while Ricardo Fuller, who will be looking to bounce back after a dire performance against Derby will be the main threat for Stoke.

  A draw would be a decent result for Stoke, as almost any away point is in the Premier League, but I feel that soon we are liable to getting our first away win, perhaps just nicking it 1-0, and tomorrow’s trip to Newcastle seems as good an opportunity as any to go for it.

Key head-to-heads:

Obafemi Martins v Abdoulaye Faye

The two old team-mates are likely to face up against each other tomorrow in what will be a battle of strength and pace, attributes both players possess in abundance. Faye struggled with the strength of Marlon King for Hull last Saturday and particularly while carrying a knock, will have his work cut out to contain Martins.

 

Jonas Gutierrez v Danny Higginbotham

On his day, Gutierrez can be a handfull for any full back. On other days he does nothing. Let’s hope for Danny’s sake that tomorrow is an example of the latter.

 

Fabricio Colocinni v Ricardo Fuller

Fuller will provide Stoke’s main attacking threat and will hope to find easy pickings from Gutierrez’s Argentine compatriot Colocinni. The centre-back will have to concentrate not to let Fuller have a sniff of goal, particularly in the air from Rory Delap’s long throws from which Fuller has scored three times this season.

 

Newcastle Squad:

Goalkeepers:

Shay Given (32), Steve Harper (33), Fraser Forster (20), Ole Soderburg (18)

Defenders:

Fabricio Colocinni (26), Habib Beye (31), Steven Taylor (22), Sebastien Bassong (22), Claudio Cacapa (32), Jose Enrique (22), Tamas Kadar (18), Ben Tozer (18), Callu Morris (18), Darren Lough (19)

Midfielders:

Damien Duff (29), Charles N’Zogbia (22), Jonas Gutierrez (25), Ignacio Gonzalez (26), Geremi (29), Nicky Butt (33), Danny Guthrie (21), David Edgar (21), Mark Doninger (19), James Marwood (18)

N.B. I will not pollute my site with the name of a certain Newcastle midfield player.

Forwards:

Michael Owen (28), Obafemi Martins (anywhere between 24 and 54), Mark Viduka (33), Alan Smith (28), Xisco (22), Shola Ameobi (27), Fabio Zamblera (18), Frank Danquah (19), Wesley Baheng (19), Kazenga Lua Lua (17), Andy Carroll (19), Ryan Donaldson (17), Jonny Godsmark (19), Nile Ranger (17)

Star man: Michael Owen

Little needs be said about current top scorer Owen, since bursting onto the scene as a teenager at Liverpool he has been a regular for England and an equally regular goalscorer. He’s currently looking to get back on track at Newcastle after suffering several bad injuries in the last few years.

Comparative club stats:

                                             Newcastle                          Stoke

League Position:                        14                                   17

Games Played:                           17                                   19

Home Record: (W,D,L)              3,2,3                               6,2,3

Away Record: (W,D,L)               1,4,4                               1,2,5

Goals Scored:                             21                                   22

Goals Conceded:                        26                                   30

Disciplinary: (Y,R)                     21,2                                31,1

Form: (most recent first)     D,D,D,L,W,W                    L,D,W,L,W,D

Top Scorers:                   Owen (6), Martins (5)       Fuller (6), Sidibe (3)

 

Last five meetings:

Newcastle 4-1 Stoke – 16/01/2008

Stoke 0-0 Newcastle – 06/01/2008

Newcastle 3-0 Stoke – 16/04/1990

Stoke 2-1 Newcastle – 26/12/1989

Stoke 0-1 Newcastle – 04/05/1985

An aerial view of St. James’ Park