St James’ Park is the venue for this afternoon’s encounter between Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Toon Army vs Wolves to me and you. Wolves, on the back of a tremendous win against Chelsea, are slight favourites in the eyes of the bookies. Prior to that win against Chelsea, Wolves had not beaten anyone since the beginning of October and were on a run of games which saw them lose to the likes of Cardiff and Huddersfield.
After not picking up their first win of the season until 3 November, Newcastle won three games on the bounce before losing at home to West Ham and drawing at Goodison Park in their last two. It’s not a very well kept secret that Mike Ashley isn’t well-liked on Tyneside and despite Benitez’ talent as a coach, there’s, of course, only much that can be done with tightened purse strings. What does all this mean? It’ll be a hard game to call as both teams blow hot and cold, nevertheless, we will investigate Newcastle’s recent heavy home defeat against Pellegrini’s West Ham to establish their weaknesses from a defensive standpoint. Alongside that, Newcastle’s attacking patterns will also come under the microscope before finishing with a look at Wolves and the selection headache Nuno has for today’s game.
Difference In Home & Away Formation
Whereas Wolves keep the same 3-4-3 formation or thereabouts regardless of who they are playing, Newcastle tend to tweak their formation depending on whether they’re playing at St James’ Park or away from home. For example, at Goodison Park in midweek, they operated with a 5-4-1 and focused on not losing the game, rather than winning. The game before, against West Ham, Benitez selected a 4-4-1-1/4-4-2 and focused more so on winning. While the attacking formation at home worked against Watford and Bournemouth, West Ham picked them apart. Let’s find out how.
Newcastle’s centre-half pairing of Federico Fernandez and Fabian Schar are keeping an eye on Chicharito and Arnautovic. Well, it certainly seems that way. Snodgrass, who is stronger on his left foot, is about to cut back in and deliver the ball into the area. If Nuno opts for Gibbs-White again, like he should, Gibbs-White and Jimenez have to play close together in the penalty box as it can have the following effects against Newcastle’s defence.
Quick-Switch From The Centre Forwards
All that happens here is that Hernandez and Arnautovic essentially swap positions. Chicharito runs the back post, Arnautovic to the front, Snodgrass whips the ball in and the Mexican sticks it beyond Dubravka. Two key points from this goal, from a Wolves and Newcastle perspective. Wolves rarely flood the penalty area with stacks of players, so the fact that the Hammers were able to score with only two players in the thick of it is positive. It shows that it can be done with few players in the box.
