West Brom v Newcastle - Match Preview

Devastated. Gutted. Shattered. Heartbroken. Distraught. Despite probably deserving to get beat at home to Everton on Saturday, the moment that Tom Cleverley directed that header into our goal is arguably one of the worst ways going to lose a football match!

“We had the best chances!” Did we? Mitrovic probably had the best chance and Howard pulled off a great save to deny Wijnaldum, but Rob Elliott was probably Man of the Match, based on the amount of saves he made – Lukaku missing at least 2 one-on-ones. Everton dominated possession, created double the amount of chances and actually tried to play good football. If that was us, we would have been shouting ‘justice’ from the rooftops when that last gasp header went in!

Next up

Today sees a battle between the two lowest shot-producers in the Premier League this season and the two worst disciplinary records. Newcastle have faced West Brom 18 times in the Premier League, winning 10 and losing just 3. The Magpies have lost just once in the last 7 meetings.

Stats

West Brom have the lowest proportion of possession on average in the Premier League this season (41.7%) compared to NUFC’s 4th worst 45.5%. WBA also have the 2nd worst pass success rate in the division (71.4%).

‘Pretty’ football probably won’t be on the agenda! WBA play the 2nd most long balls per game on average this season! Expect a somewhat fast-paced game with plenty of possession turnover and end-to-end spells of counter attacking transitions!

WBA are the 5th best team in the division, aerially, and NUFC are 2nd worst. NUFC could do with rediscovering some of the neater play they produced in the earlier parts of the season today; any ‘hoofball’ tactics will play directly into the midlands side’s hands.

The Baggies have produced the 2nd fewest dribbles per game on average – good news for Coloccini and Dummett – and they have the highest proportion of shots from inside the six yard box than any other top flight side this season (14%).

NUFC team

I expect the back four will remain the same, although I’d personally play Kevin Mbabu ahead of the struggling Paul Dummett. Cheick Tiote is likely to replace Jack Colback as NUFC stick with the relentless strategy of two holding midfielders in a bid to ‘pinch and push’ quickly and hit WBA on the break.

Aleksandar Mitrovic improved as the game went on against Everton and is likely to keep his place up top, ahead of Ayoze Perez, another who was quite poor on Saturday. Wijnaldum and Sissoko to continue on the flanks.

Prediction: 2-2