Preview: Stoke City vs Newcastle United; Kick off; January 1, 15:00; Venue; Bet365 Stadium; Referee; Chris Kavanagh
Trouble is brewing for both sides in the Potteries where Stoke City host Newcastle United on New Year’s Day; whoever loses will be staring down the barrel of a long, frustrating January as the relegation battle hots up. Stoke boss Mark Hughes is facing the wrath of the fans after a terrible season, which has seen them regress badly. Those fans want him sacked, and as things stand he will be in charge heading into 2018. Lose on its first day, though, and he may not be for much longer.
Saturday’s 5-0 defeat at Chelsea continued a pattern away at the top sides this season; having conceded seven at Manchester City earlier in the season and five at Tottenham just a few weeks ago, they continued to be outclassed by the best sides in the Premier League. In fact, as West Ham showed at the Bet365 this month, a confident, attacking display can really go far against a side as poor as this one.
All that said, Newcastle are hardly the staple for a good team right now. While the ended a run of five straight losses at St James’ Park against Brighton at the weekend, they are still on a run of just one win in 12 games and sit just a point above the drop zone at the time of writing. Although Newcastle are a point and a place behind their next opponents, Rafa Benitez is not getting anywhere near the level of stick Hughes is. Newcastle fans are intelligent enough to know the right manager when they see him; they’ve seen enough of the wrong ones and they can see Benitez is the man to unlock the club’s potential huge potential given the right backing; he has not received that from owner Mike Ashley, public enemy number one on Tyneside, but could do soon with takeover talks still ongoing. At the moment, though, he is battling against a rather heavy tide.
Just a week ago, it would have been said that Newcastle are in a good position to win this game, after they went to West Ham and played them off the park for long periods of their 3-2 win at the London Stadium. Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie and Christian Atsu were all mightily impressive that day, but the trio really struggled to break down Brighton. Benitez will certainly hope the fact Stoke will attack more than the Seagulls did will offer more space for that trio to cause havoc, just as they did before Christmas. Stoke, though, have shown they can win against struggling sides at home; they dispatched West Brom, now under the stewardship of former Magpies boss Alan Pardew, 3-1 just last week. They have also beaten Arsenal and were the first team to take points from Manchester United, when they were looking particularly strong. Stoke have won two of their last three on their own patch, too, which should give them confidence, but the pressure is most definitely on here.
Victory over West Ham was only Newcastle’s second on the road this season, but they will hope it offers them momentum. It seems so strange, given the fact they have thrived playing at home over the years, but it may do them some good to play away from St James’ Park.
Atsu and captain Jamaal Lascelles netted in a 2-1 victory for Newcastle in the last meeting between these sides in September. That win took Benitez’s men up to fourth place and now seems a world away. Xherdan Shaqiri had scored a brilliant equaliser that day, and he is the kind of player who can really make a difference in these games. Newcastle will looked to their aforementioned usual suspects; one man who will be even more desperate to score in this game is Joselu, the Spanish striker who left Staffordshire for Tyneside in a £5million deal last summer.
With Swansea winning at Watford on Saturday, Newcastle’s next Premier League fixture after the FA Cup has just got a whole lot tougher. Stoke travel to Manchester United after their cup exploits, and while Jose Mourinho’s men aren’t in the best shape right now, Hughes will certainly see this as a crucial game to get three points.
You just got spanked 5-0 mate.
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Team News
In fact, the Stoke boss admitted he rested a number of key players at Chelsea with this game, and the two-day turnaround, in mind. The likes of Shaqiri, Peter Crouch, Joe Allen and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting sat on the bench and are likely to come into the side.
Newcastle played their strongest side against Brighton but have themselves been rotating in recent weeks. Benitez is known to be an advocate of changes to keep legs fresh, and he could utilise his squad again in this one. In midfield, Mikel Merino is a minor doubt after hobbling off on Saturday, meaning Jonjo Shelvey could start.
Expected starting line ups
Stoke: Butland; Cameron, Zouma, Wimmer, Tymon; Fletcher, Allen, Adam; Choupo-Moting, Shaquri, Crouch.
Newcastle: Darlow; Dummett, Clark, Lascelles, Yedlin; Hayden, Shelvey, Atsu, Ritchie, Gayle, Joselu.
Did you know?
Newcastle have not won in their first Premier League fixture of the New Year since 2012, when they emphatically beat Manchester United 3-0 thanks to goals from Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye and a Phil Jones own goal. That season, they went on to finish fifth, qualigying for the Europa League.
Prediction
Like every game Newcastle have played this season, this one will be tight and could be decided by one goal. Both teams have previous to suggest why they will or won’t win, but losing is really not an option for either given how tight it is in the bottom half of the Premier League. Just like Saturday, Rafa Benitez may have to do with a point from this one.
Score Prediction: Stoke City 1-1 Newcastle United
