Saturday, at 15:00, we are witnessing a very important duel in the relegation zone in the Premier League. Newcastle United (18th place, goal 16-31) receives Cardiff City (17th place, goal 19-41) in a match where both bands have priority to avoid failure. In the final stages, Newcastle was overtaken by the rival rankings in Wales.
Rafa Benitez drew the attention that the fight to avoid relegation is very difficult, especially since his lot has not been strengthened for the last 18 years. In addition, the Iberian manager faces significant batch problems: it will not be able to rely on Darlow, Dummett, Clark, Diame, Ki-Sung and Shelvey on the weekend, but neither Muto goes to the Asian Cup with Japan . Under these conditions, all the weight of the attack on the “cotofen will fall on the shoulders of Ayoze Perez, Kenedy and Rondon, the stars on St. James Park.
Cardiff does not know if he can use Camarasa, Paterson, Richards, Ward and Zohore, but manager Neil Warnock will once again think of a better organized defensive system, as it did in the tour. On Cardiff’s ground, Newcastle had to settle for only a white draw after Kenedy missed a penalty in extra time, which could have brought the victory to black and white. Cardiff does not have a positive balance in this season’s season, where it has only returned 5 points (a victory and two draws), rather being a sterile away from home. On the other hand, the white-blue defense began to look more and more solid, and Cardiff finished 3 of the last 4 rounds without a goal but scored one.
Given that the visiting team has the second worst attack in the Premier League, and Newcastle is not inspirational in the offensive, it’s possible that bets on fewer goals will be the winning option on Saturday. With only one goal scored in the last four games in the field, Newcastle will play cautious in the first half, but could harden more after the break, considering that 88% of the goals scored by Cardiff in the last 6 games were successful in second half.
A 0-0 on the break is likely in the absence of an individual achievement from Rafa Benitez’s star. Last season, Newcastle lost to Chelsea (1-2) after an encouraging game, while Cardiff drew white with Huddersfield after a boring game. In the middle of the week, “cotofenele” managed to win an overtime victory in England Cup 3, 4-2 with second division Blackburn Rovers (2-2 after regular time).
NEWCASTLE PROBABLE TEAMS – CARDIFF CITY:
Newcastle United: Dubravka – Lejeune, Lascelles, Clark – Yedlin, Hayden, Longstaff, Ritchie – Ayoze Perez, Atsu – Rondon
Cardiff: Etheridge – Ecuele-Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett – Hoilett, Gunnarsson, Arter, J. Murphy – Camarasa – Paterson
PREDICTION: Newcastle to win @ 2.03
