One word can sum up this Premier League season so far- SCENES. Leicester’s fairytale, Chelsea’s early capitulation, Louis Van Gaal defending more than OJ Simpson’s lawyer. And we got another slice of drama at the weekend when two results saw a six point swing in the battle for relegation. Newcastle now have the oppurtunity to escape the bottom three. We’ve an 11/1 shot that shows why they just might.
They were dead and buried. Defeat to Norwich three weeks ago left Newcastle six points off of Premier League safety. That was until Saturday when ironically it was Sunderland that did them a favour. The Black Cats beat Norwich comfortably which gave Rafa Benitez a chance to close the gap on his birthday. If there’s a better way for a Champions League winning manager to celebrate his birthday than in front of a load of topless Geordies, we’d love to hear it. They won and now have the chance to go level with their game in hand.
There’s just one problem. The game in hand is against Manchester City. And against Sergio Aguero who has scored five goals in his last three games, including a hat-trick against Chelsea at the weekend. Worse news for the Geordies is that he’s got ten in his last six appearances against Newcastle – helped by the five he got in the 6-1 win back in October.
So we know if he plays, that Aguero’s probably going to score ( to open the scoring). But can Manuel Pellegrini afford to risk three games in a week for an injury-prone striker with a Champions League semi final to come? It’s not like he hasn’t got a wealth of midfield talent to replace the Argentinian (Kevin De Bruyne, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri can all pick up the slack) but on the striker front he has Bony and Iheanacho – the least scary duo since Norma Bates.
- Full match betting here
It’s around this time of year that history and form goes out the window.
- Newcastle haven’t beaten Man City in the league since 2005 when Michael Owen scored the winner and went on to a career as Captain Obvious
- Victory for the away side will put them seven points clear of fifth place.
- Newcastle have only put back to back victories together once this season
- They have created 280 chances so far this season compared to 433 from City
We expect City to rest a few stars. De Bruyne and Aguero deserve their break and we could see the return of David Silva and/or Vincent Kompany to Pellegrini’s starting XI. So it’s really a question of who wants and needs it more. Which is why Newcastle at odds of have a great chance. No one’s expecting them to win but nothing this season has been expected bar Villa’s relegation and Arsenal bottling a title charge.
Our tip is for Alexander Mitrovic to score and Newcastle to win at odds of. No we’re not smoking anything. The striker came on on Saturday and bullied the Swansea defence, resulting in the third goal.
Newcastle’s match odds of seem a tad harsh seeing how easily they dismantled the Swans. City are but may just take their foot off the pedal