Can we turn the screw on ManUtd? Newcastle Preview

By
April 23 2007

There’s an air of excitement among Chelsea fans at the moment – for the first time in a long time, we now have the destiny of what will be a 3rd successive league title in our own hands.

Boro played very well yesterday at Old Trafford and were even unlucky not to have come away with all 3 points when the referee bottled a pen near the end of the game. 

 

Has the back been broken of this great Manchester side?  I doubt it – there will surely be more twists and turns before the end of the season although I had to smile at the irony of their fans making cheap jibes at Chelsea supporters not completing our semi-final allocation recently and then those same fans streaming out of Old Trafford with 15 mins to go yesterday!  The stadium wasn’t even ¾ full at the final whistle!

 

So – onto today’s game:

 

We’ve always been given a tough time at St James Park and we’d do well to come away with a draw today.  Pessimistic?  Perhaps.  We’ve certainly got a team well capable of bringing the 3 points back to London – and we should do – but today’s result depends on how tired we might be and having to bear in mind we may need to try and conserve energy for Wednesday when we will face a very rested Liverpool side at Stamford Bridge.

 

A lot will also depend on the frame of mind of the Newcastle players – will they be up for it knowing that there is still a possibility of a UEFA place with a 7^th spot finish despite this being a difficult proposition?  (Ironically, it was our defeat of Blackburn which opened up this 7^th place UEFA spot).

 

The Geordies will still be without Owen and Ameobi still isn’t fit.   The excellent Shay Given could miss this game through a nagging groin problem although Dyer, Chelsea old boy Parker and Sibierski are likely to return.  Parker is one of the most underrated players in today’s game and I just hope and pray he doesn’t put a spanner in our works today.

 

We will still have Robben missing (although he looks likely to return before the 2^nd CL semi-final leg at Anfield) but Shevchenko should start today after picking up a knock against Blackburn.

 

Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder:

"This year, we have done very well against the top four teams.

"We got a very good draw at home to Manchester United, a creditable draw with Arsenal recently and of course we beat Liverpool.

"Now we are taking on the double Premiership champions. We have played them twice already and I do believe in both games, we were unfortunate to lose 1-0, but we did.

"Now we have a third opportunity not to put a spanner in their Premiership aspirations, but to look after ourselves.

"We have not had the best of runs ourselves just lately and there would be no greater boost than taking points from Chelsea on Sunday."

Jose Mourinho on defender Ricardo Carvalho:

"It is Ricardo's best season with me.

"For a long period there was no Petr Cech behind him, no John Terry alongside and no Michael Essien in front and he was amazing.

"He deserved a rest at West Ham but the central defender position is difficult to change during a game."

Newcastle (from): Harper, Srnicek, Solano, Carr, Babayaro, Taylor, Bramble, Onyewu, Moore, Ramage, Butt, Parker, Milner, Emre, Dyer, N'Zogbia, Martins, Sibierski, Luque, Carroll, LuaLua.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Cudicini, Hilario, Ferreira, Diarra, Geremi, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole, Bridge, Obi, Makelele, Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Wright-Phillips, Drogba, Shevchenko, J Cole, Kalou.

Referee:  Mark Halsey (Lancashire)

I can see us rotating slightly again and starting with something like; Cech, Diarra, Carvalho, Terry, Bridge, Obi, Lampard, Essien, SWP, J Cole and Shevchenko.

 

Ashley Cole will come on on 65mins for Bridge and Drogba and Ballack for Shevchenko and J Cole.

 

Prediction? A 1-3 win for us despite my earlier reservations.