Game of the Week Preview – Newcastle United vs Everton

Welcome to our brand new ‘Game of the Week' feature from Yorker Sports. Our big match preview this week comes from St James’ Park, where Newcastle United take on Everton in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday.

League Form

Newcastle will be aiming to continue their fantastic start to the 2011/12 campaign that sees them sitting in 3rd place in the Barclays Premier League. They remain one of only three teams in the entire Football league that have yet to lose a game, a run they will be keen to continue tomorrow. A win in the early kick-off tomorrow will see them, at least temporarily; leapfrog Manchester United into 2nd place. The Toon will be looking to take another three points ahead of a difficult month of fixtures that sees them play both Manchester clubs and Chelsea in three of the their next four games. Their win at the Britannia was the first defeat for Stoke at home all season, a feat unmatched by Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd who have all failed to take 3 points from the Britannia this season

Everton, on the hand, have had a difficult start to the season. David Moyes’ men have only 3 wins from their first nine games. A tough early fixture list, including defeats to Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City has seen them slump to 16th position in the league. A win at St James’ Park could lift them as high as 8th in the table however, and with a game in hand, 3 points could be the kick-start to the season that the Toffees so desperately need.

Team News

Everton will have winger Royston Drenthe available after suspension following the Dutchman’s red card against Blackburn in the Carling Cup. Phil Neville, Sylvain Distain and Tim Cahill all missed the defeat against Manchester United through injury and all remain doubts for this game, with Moyes rating their chances as only slightly better than 50%.

Newcastle’s battling midfielder Chiek Tiote remains an injury doubt for the Magpies, having missed the 3-1 win over Stoke at the Britannia on Monday night with a knee injury. Gabriel Obertan will miss the game through illness but Alan Pardew could promote Hatem Ben Arfa to the starting line-up for the Frenchman’s first start of the season.

Player Watch

Newcastle - After a slow start to the season, Senegalese striker Demba Ba is in fantastic goal scoring form with 8 goals from his last 5 games. A quality performance against Stoke on Monday night saw the striker rewarded with his second hat-trick of the season. Having already passed his goal-tally for West Ham last season, Ba looks like he could well be an excellent replacement for former Geordie favourite Andy Carroll.

Everton - The return of Royston Drenthe will be a major boost to the Toffees. The Dutch winger, on loan from Real Madrid, has brought some genuine quality to Everton’s somewhat lacklustre attack with two goals and three assists in his six appearances, but his manager’s decision to start him in only one of those games was a strange move. His lightning-quick pace will be a major threat to the Newcastle United defence and Drenthe has the potential to be the difference between the two sides tomorrow.

Key Stat

Newcastle currently have the best defensive record in the Premier League, with only 7 goals conceded in their first 8 games.

Everton like to leave it late in games this season, will over half of their 11 goals this season coming in the last ten minutes.

Prediction

Newcastle are in great form, comfortably beating Stoke on Monday night which on paper should have been a very difficult game, the goal scoring form of Demba Ba will be a big factor on the game as will the mind-set of a struggling Everton side.

I’m going for a 3-1 win Newcastle win.

Yorker Sports Predictions

Aimee Howarth says... 1-1

Manraj Bahra says... 2-0 Newcastle

Alex Reid says... 2-1 Newcastle

Steve Puddicombe says... 2-2

Sam Holloway says... 2-1 Everton

James Tompkinson says... 3-0 Newcastle

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