West Brom vs. Newcastle United Preview

Newcastle United will be out to close the gap on fourth placed Arsenal when they visit West Brom for the live Sunday tea-time action on March 25.

The Toon Army were desperately unlucky not to snatch a point from the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium recently having battled valiantly for the duration of the game.

But a last gasp injury time winner left Newcastle empty handed and they now require an even bigger effort if they are to put the icing on a tremendous campaign by attaining European qualification.

Twelve placed West Brom stand in their way of potential progress and the Baggies have themselves exceeded expectations this year by avoiding relegation comfortably well before the end of the season.

Master tactician Roy Hodgson has had a similar effect on the club as to that which he experienced at Fulham and a solid platform now looks in place to be even stronger in the future.

But West Brom have also shown that they can mix it up with the best in the here and now and recently racked up a fabulous three match winning streak, culminating in victory over Chelsea, before falling to league leaders Manchester United.

Hodgson will see Newcastle as another notable scalp to add to his team’s account and this should be an ultra-competitive affair.

And the profile of both clubs makes the match betting extremely interesting as claims can be made for the hosts and the visitors.

West Brom’s weak spot was their home form until they managed to bash Sunderland 4-1 and that result means that their poor record overall at the Hawthorns has to be regarded lightly.

Newcastle’s record on the road is not exactly great having lost six times, however their performance levels have perhaps merited much more – in the same vein as that Arsenal defeat.

Looking at the two line-ups, a case can be made for Newcastle in terms of possessing the most quality but West Brom have proved themselves to be much better than at first glance and are moving from strength to strength under the shrewd guidance of Hodgson.

Magpies boss Alan Pardew has been equally impressive from the dugout and his motivational skills cannot be underestimated considering that he has consistently driven his side to fight and battle for ninety minutes game after game.

Newcastle’s one recent lapse was of course a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur but there has been more than enough since that horror show to suggest that it was just a blip.

The importance of home advantage between two teams so closely matched is reflected through the betting and West Brom are offered at around 7/5 with Newcastle at 11/5.

But although draw betting is often ill advised in terms of a long term strategy, it seems the natural result here as both clubs should give a good account of themselves and it is easy to envisage a bit of a cancellation process over ninety minutes – albeit an entertaining one.

This fixture looks one of the more likely to be a stalemate over the course of the weekend and at 23/10 it is difficult to veer one way or another for a winning result.

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25/03/2012     © Frixo 2024