Alan Shearer played in his fair share of Tyne-Wear derbies during his spell at Newcastle United.
There arguably has never been a player on Newcastle’s books to whom the derby meant more than the former Toon captain.
Since his retirement, the landscape of the derbies has changed somewhat, particularly in the Premier League. Sunderland have dominated, having won the last seven league meetings between the two sides, broken up by the 3-0 FA Cup win for Newcastle two years ago.
While Sunderland needed the assistance of Nick Woltemade to win at the Stadium of Light earlier this season, the fact is, they did still win. Since then, though, each team’s fortunes have changed. Newcastle are climbing the league as Sunderland slide down it. It all makes for an intriguing proposition on Sunday lunchtime.
Alan Shearer has predicted a Newcastle win in his Metro column, which is hardly surprising.
However, he has expressed a worry that things may bubble up in a bad way, believing we could see emotions spill over in a feisty game at St James’ Park!
Our former No.9 also signed off his prediction with some sound advice for Eddie Howe’s men: play the match, not the occasion.
“The bragging rights are massively on the line. It has to be a home win. Sunderland got the better of Newcastle in the reverse fixture.
”I always say you can get away with a little bit more in these games and you can, but something tells me that this one might spill over for the wrong reasons. I hope I’m not correct in saying that!
“Newcastle somehow have to get the three points. They can’t not take the three points for obvious reasons.
“The Champions League is gone. It was great to play against Barcelona, but for 45 minutes they sort of put Newcastle in their place. But then you get back to the Premier League, and you need a good game to bounce back in and there’s no better game than this. As I keep saying, it has to be three points. There’s no other way to put it.
“They’re great games. The atmosphere is amazing, but you have to play the match, not the occasion.
“Prediction – Newcastle win”
It obviously wasn’t, but that advice to play the match, not the occasion, seems like it could have been very heavily directed at Joelinton.
If anyone is likely to get a bit carried away in a fiery derby game, it’s Big Joe. To be fair, Granit Xhaka has the capacity to go off, too, so if those two clash, things really could get spicy.
Hopefully, we will witness a football match and not a Royal Rumble, but we wouldn’t mind seeing some ‘passion’…as long as it brings three points!