Newcastle v Leeds preview ahead of this St James’ Park clash

Welcome to the Newcastle v Leeds preview.

Wednesday 7th January and an 8.15pm kick-off.

The Toon host Leeds United this Wednesday night, looking for a third straight league victory.

Newcastle have endured something of a stop-start campaign in the league so far.

However, they have the opportunity to break into the upper echelons of the table, during what Eddie Howe has described as the pivotal month of the season.

Form

Newcastle have won three, drawn one and lost two of their last six league matches. Wins have come against Burnley (both home and away) and Crystal Palace. We drew with Chelsea despite a 2-0 half-time lead and lost 1-0 away to Man Utd and the Mackems. We’ve scored nine and conceded six. The ten points gained has us ninth in the league and a win could have us as high as fifth if all results go our way.

Leeds have drawn five and won one of their past six league matches. Their victory came at home against Crystal Palace, whilst draws have come against Liverpool (both home and away), away at Brentford and the Mackems and at home to Man United. They’ve scored ten goals and conceded seven. The eight points gained has them sixteenth in the league and a win could see them leapfrog Bournemouth into fifteenth.

Last time out

Newcastle hosted Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon and ran out worthy winners. The first half saw the Toon have two goals disallowed and force two good saves from the ‘keeper. Despite the dominance, it was Palace who nearly took a half-time lead when missing an absolute sitter in first half injury time.

The second half saw Newcastle take the game to their opponents and finally make the breakthrough with just twenty minutes to play, when Bruno nodded home after great work from Barnes and Miley. The lead was doubled soon after when Malick Thiaw took advantage of a goalmouth scramble to force the ball in from close range. With the game won, there was still time for Barnes to race through on goal and force a fine save from the keeper leaving Willock with a golden chance on the rebound that he somehow put wide with the goal gaping. This was a well deserved victory for the Toon who have achieved back-to-back league wins for just the second time all season.

Leeds hosted Man United at the weekend and had to settle for a point despite taking the lead in the second half. Leeds were good value for the point having hit the post in the first half and forced a good save near the end. This draw means the white are unbeaten in seven Premier League games as they strive to ease relegation fears.

Stat attack!

-Leeds are unbeaten in their most recent past four visits to St James’ Park in all competitions.

– Newcastle’s last home win against Leeds came in the League Cup in 2013.

– A win would be the Toon’s third consecutive league victory. A feat we haven’t achieved since April of last season.

Memorable match

The 01/02 season had already seen these sides play out an absolutely incredible encounter when the Toon came from 3-1 down to beat the whites 4-3 in the last minute to go top of the league at Christmas.

When Leeds visited St James’ Park just a few weeks later, there was a lot to live up to, but anyone hoping for even more drama would not be disappointed. The match was only twenty-seven seconds in when Leeds opened the scoring with a somewhat bizarre goal. A ball over the top left Alan Smith completely through on goal with four defenders chasing him and he made no mistake when netting at the Gallowgate End (something he never did when playing for the Toon). Under Sir Bobby, United had a reputation of being comeback kings and once again we’d be forced to come from behind to secure a famous victory.

Thankfully, the early setback didn’t dampen the atmosphere and led to a redoubling of efforts both in the stands and on the pitch. A period of sustained Newcastle pressure brought an equaliser before half-time when Duberry headed into his own net. The second half would live long in the memory as the Toon built up a head of steam and ran Leeds United ragged. With the crowd in a state of absolute frenzy and the atmosphere building by the minute, St James’ Park exploded when Kieron Dyer gave NUFC the lead with an hour on the clock. Great work by Solano and Bellamy gave Dyer the opportunity to give United the lead and he celebrated in rather unique style, uprooting the corner flag and miming a golf chip into the crowd. With half an hour left to play, the win wasn’t quite wrapped up and Shay Given had to be alert to smother a rare Leeds chance. On eighty-seven minutes however it was game over. Great work between Dyer and Bellamy saw the latter race through on goal and bury a fine effort to put United back on the top of the league as we achieved another fantastic win in an incredibly enjoyable season. Newcastle 3-1 Leeds.

Played for both

Ian Rush was a goalscoring legend at Liverpool and Juventus before an uninspiring spell at Leeds in 96/97 when he was only able to find the net on three occasions. Unbelievably, Kenny Dalglish signed him in 1997, hoping he would be an able replacement for Sir Les Ferdinand who had scored fifty goals in the past two seasons. Needless to say, this worked out horrifically for everyone concerned as Rush failed to score a single league goal and United went from title contenders to just barely surviving relegation. He did score for NUFC in the FA Cup away at Everton, when Rush prodded home a loose ball to win the third round tie 1-0 and set United on their eventual way to their first final in twenty-four years.

Didier Domi signed for Ruud Gullit in 1999 and spent eighteen months at the Toon before returning to PSG. He scored three times for NUFC with well-taken strikes against Wimbledon and Coventry being overshadowed by our first ever goal at the Stadium of Light in a match we really should have won but drew 2-2. Going awol over Christmas in 2000 hardly ingratiated him to Sir Bobby and he fell out of favour, citing an unhappiness at living on the Quayside near ‘Godless’ fans. He had a seventeen match loan spell at Leeds in 2004 but couldn’t prevent relegation from the Premier League.

Jonathan Woodgate signed for Leeds when he was sixteen and spent seven years at Elland Road, playing over one-hundred games. He was bought by Sir Bobby in 2003 and is widely considered to be one of the best defenders we’ve had during the Premier League era, when he played. Unfortunately. that was few and far between and he was sold to Real Madrid having played just twenty-eight games in eighteen months due to a number of injuries. Under different circumstances, this could have been a match made in heaven, but unfortunately is just another tale of what might have been.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a 2-0 win at home to Crystal Palace:

“It was a tough game, it always is against Crystal Palace. Oliver has done an amazing job. We had to be patient. It was bitty at times. I think the substitutions made a difference and helped us over the line. I think they were two good moves for the goals that weren’t. We needed that first goal to relax us. I think we got better and better in the game. Bruno is a very special player, person and character. He’s very positive, has great energy and played a captain’s role because that game was always going to be decided by a very key moment – and he has come up with the big one for us. He’s done it countless times. Your big players normally decide big games and today was a big game for us decided by a huge player in our recent history.”

Daniel Farke after a 1-1 draw with Man United:

“If you play Man Utd as a newly-promoted side it’s always a good point. It wasn’t our best game today football-wise, it was a bit scruffy, you could see a few key players were out and we were a bit tired today. Nevertheless we found a way. We forced an opener and would have taken all three points, so for that I’m a bit disappointed, but if I calm down I have to say it’s a fair point. It’s a good point, another point on our tally and extend the gap a little bit. Resilience in a difficult game for us, but I’m still a bit disappointed it wasn’t three points.”

Charity

Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.

For further info and/or to donate online go to Newcastle Foodbank

Prediction

The Toon should be feeling confident after winning the last two matches and this represents a huge opportunity to win three in a row and climb up a ridiculously tight League table. Leeds will be looking to take the game to us after some eye-catching results recently but I think we’ll be too strong and fancy a Toon win. Newcastle 2-1 Leeds.