Venue: Carrow Road Date: Saturday, 12th January K/o: 15:00
Team News
Norwich will be hoping to welcome back club captain Grant Holt after his recent injury spell for the visit of Alan Pardew's men to Carrow Road this afternoon. Midfielder Jonny Howson could also return from illness. However, John Ruddy (groin), Steve Morison (thigh), Steven Whittaker and Andrew Surman (both hip) are all missing. Newcastle could hand a debut to new right-back Mathieu Debuchy this afternoon, whilst want-away club captain Fabricio Coloccini, Papiss Cisse and Jonas Gutierrez could all return. Defender James Perch is a doubt with a knee injury.
Match Preview
Newcastle begin Premier League life without top scorer Demba Ba this afternoon following his move to Chelsea, and if past results are anything to go by, it looks like they're really going to miss him. They lost 2-1 to Everton on 2nd January - the day he was pulled out of the side to complete his move to Stamford Bridge - and followed that up with a shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion. Papiss Cisse is currently the only recognised striker at Newcastle. The Magpies only have one win in five and are sitting precariously close to the relegation trap door. As if to compound manager Alan Pardew's misery this week, news broke yesterday that club captain Fabricio Coloccini want's to move back to Argentina. The one piece of good news for Newcastle though is that they did win this reverse fixture - 1-0 at St James' Park back in September. Typically however, Demba Ba scored that goal and Cisse missed a penalty. If the latter is to step up as a replacement for Ba, then those aren't good omens.