Looking at the Newcastle team v Leicester.
Eddie Howe and his players hoping to return to the levels of that excellent St James’ Park performance against Liverpool.
Poor defending and a dire second half having condemned United to a 4-2 away defeat in their most recent away game.
Ruud van Nistelrooy with his first Leicester away match, having picked up four points at home against West Ham and Brighton.
So what can we expect the Newcastle team v Leicester to be?
As a starting point, this was the Newcastle team v Brentford:
Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Longstaff, Bruno, Joelinton, Barnes, Isak, Jacob Murphy
Eddie Howe gave an injury and availability update on Friday morning.
Callum Wilson is now out for at least eight weeks with a new hamstring injury.
Nick Pope is out with a knee injury picked up at Brentford. Media reports following Eddie Howe’s press conference said that the United keeper is set to be missing for around a month.
Eddie Howe said that Sven Botman is doing well in his recovery but still a bit away from consideration for the first team matches.
Whilst the Head Coach also stated that Joe Willock is getting over his minor hamstring issue that caused him to miss Brentford, though ahead of Friday he hadn’t yet taken part in full group training.
So it sounds like Callum Wilson, Nick Pope, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles and Sven Botman are the five who will be missing for sure today. With Joe Willock an unknown.
Anyway, my take on all of this, my best guesstimate of the Newcastle team v Leicester is:
Dubravka, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Joelinton, Barnes, Isak, Gordon
So that would mean four changes.
IN:
Dubravka, Trippier, Tonali, Gordon
OUT:
Pope, Livramento, Longstaff, Murphy
With Dubravka consistently named on the bench this season, it appears all but certain that he and not Vlachodimos will replace the injured Pope.
I don’t think Tino Livramento has played poorly, far from it. However, I do think that with Kieran Trippier now back available, he could well come in after United conceding seven goals in their last two matches. Trippier giving extra experience and leadership to the team, as well as being a very good defender.
I found it amazing that some Newcastle United fans couldn’t comprehend why Eddie Howe had ‘dropped’ Tonali and Gordon for the Brentford match. Atter the Liverpool match less than 72 hours earlier, Howe stated that Gordon had been ‘fatigued’ by the end of the game and Tonali had been ‘cramping up’ towards the end of his shift against the scousers.
If there had been a week between matches, then 100 percent both Tonali and Gordon would have started against Brentford. Eddie Howe was simply looking after them and deemed the safe route was to use them off the bench later in that game.
Those same Newcastle United fans moaning about the Head Coach ‘dropping’ them, would have been the first ones slaughtering Eddie Howe if he’d played one or both of them and they’d picked up an injury due to Howe taking that risk starting them.
Both Gordon and Tonali were excellent against Liverpool and for sure they will start today.
As for who makes way, I think Murphy and Longstaff for sure.
I think he should be starting today regardless of the opposition but I’m sure Eddie Howe will play Harvey Barnes against his former club.
Hopefully Joe Willock will be ok to go on the bench today but I can’t see Eddie Howe considering him for a start, after one session of training at most, if he trained on Friday.
Newcastle United upcoming matches:
Saturday 14 December – Newcastle v Leicester (3pm)
Wednesday 18 December – Newcastle v Brentford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+ (Carabao Cup)
Saturday 21 December – Ipswich v Newcastle (3pm)
Thursday 26 December – Newcastle v Villa (3pm) Amazon
Monday 30 December – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports
Saturday 4 January – Tottenham v Newcastle (12.30pm) TNT Sports
Sunday 12 January – Newcastle v Bromley (3pm) BBC iPlayer (FA Cup)
Wednesday 15 January – Newcastle v Wolves (7.30pm) TNT Sports
Saturday 18 January – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30pm) TNT Sports
Saturday 25 January – Southampton v Newcastle (3pm)
Saturday 1 February – Newcastle v Fulham (3pm)
Saturday 15 February – Man City v Newcastle (3pm)
Sunday 23 February – Newcastle v Forest (Time TBC) Sky Sports