Looking at this Newcastle team against Arsenal.
Only hours to go for this Premier League match in St James’ Park.
Newcastle United wants to follow the victory over Bradford that brought them to the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.
It is back to Premier League promotion and a huge competition.
Newcastle United now wants to make four home wins in a row against the side of Mikel Arteta.
As a reminder, this was the Newcastle team against Bradford:
Raksdale, Craft, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Bruno, Joelinton, Mile, Gordon, Osulule, Elanga.
The NUFC head coach still has Wissa and Ramsey due to an injury, plus Fabian Schar will almost certainly miss because of concussion protocols, which have been forced against Barcelona after a blow on the head.
Eddie Howe said on Friday that Jacob Murphy has a continuous Achilles problem that after a few training sessions ‘painful’ leaves him, but that the winger is fit and available.
So where does that leave us?
This is my predicted Newcastle team V Arsenal:
Pope, Livramento, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Bruno, Joelinton, Tonali, Gordon, Woltemade, Elanga
If this were to prove reality, this would see four changes in the eleven that started against Bradford.
Great to see that Eddie Howe can rotate and use his team, hopefully to prevent too much risk of injuries. A very credible point last weekend in Bournemouth, although a terrible game to watch, with a dominant 4-1 win in midweek when Bradford was very happy, United did not have their shooting boots.
Hopefully they wear them all this afternoon …
I think that the return of Nick Pope (four clean sheets in five PL competitions) and Sandro Tonali (Italian genius) are easy to predict, to replace Aaron Ramsdale and Lewis Miley.
Emil Krafth will also fall on the couch. Just a matter for me then whether Kieran comes in Trippier and Tino Livramento goes to the left, or Tino and Lewis Hall both play. I think the latter.
I think it will be Thiaw and Botman in the middle of the defense, then most probably Schar and Burn to play in the Champions League on Wednesday.
For me, that leaves the big question at the front. Will Nick Woltemade start or get off the couch?
Will Osula did well and scored goals on Wednesday, but I think Big Nick is coming in.
Upcoming Newcastle United fixtures (all Champions League matches will also be available to watch TV in the UK):
Sunday 28 September– Newcastle against Arsenal (4.30 pm) Sky Sports
Wednesday 1 October: Union SG vs Newcastle United (5.45 pm)
Sunday 5 October– Newcastle V Forest (2 p.m.) Sky Sports
Saturday, October 18 – Brighton V Newcastle (3 p.m.)
#Predicted #Newcastle #Team #Arsenal