Newcastle United vs Wigan - Match Preview

(P.S. €“ I am a Newcastle United fan, so as always my match reports are bias and for the like minded);Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew appeared on BBC Radio Newcastle on Thursday and talked up today's Premier League game against Wigan as one of the biggest of the season as he knows at home this is three points they should take if they really want to be challenging for a European birth this term as their results so far would suggest. He obviously meant it as no disrespect to Wigan who lie 19th in the table but more in terms of consistency of results against sides outside of the top six or seven in the table at home, something they didn't always manage last term. Their 2-2 draw thanks to a late flurry of goals against their opponents today in the same fixture last season is a testimony to that. Though the worrying news for Wigan is that they are not even the side they were last year and that barely survived on the final day. Long gone is Charles N'Zogbia, the former Toon winger who tormented them last season with two goals in the first half and without the Frenchman, they just aren't the same attacking threat they once were. Pardew's task is to get out of October with their unbeatan run still in tact and four points from the two games, beginning today at home to Wigan, and next week away at Stoke, to push into the tough November program where their unbeaten run would be tested by the two Manchester clubs. It is perhaps also a task to try and keep expectations from getting carried away with the Geordie faithful as the season fixtures haven't yet hit double figures and sides are only ever a few defeats away from dropping down to less glamorous positions. But encouraging for them has gotta to be the way the new players are performing with the likes of Demba Ba, Yohan Cabaye, Gabriel Obertan forcing fans to forget those first teamers who left for pastures new this year and with Hatem Ben Arfa, Davide Santon and Sylvain Marveaux looking like they are going to be important players to be drafted in over the coming weeks, Newcastle haven't felt this exciting in a long, long while. Today they face a Wigan side who started the reason brightly but have hit a run of five straight defeats and confidence is expected to be particularly low today and if they defend like they did against Bolton, it could get embarrassing at St. James' Park with the form they are in. They've never won here and Roberto Martinez knows he's in for a tough afternoon.

Team News

With Alan Pardew hinting on the radio that he was going to keep with Leon Best who he claimed was the best finisher at the club despite the obvious itch to field Hatem Ben Arfa behind the strikers or start Shola Amoebi after his fabulous goal at the weekend, Newcastle are likely to field the same 11 today against Wigan, with the possible exception that £5 million Italian full back Davide Santon might make his first start. Obviously the plan is to field him sometime and he seems to be fully fit now and showed an awful lot of skill and composure in his cameo substitute appearance against Spurs, it's probably just a headache for Pardew to consider dropping fullbacks on either wings as they are a winning side with Danny Simpson and Ryan Taylor. And who of them to drop is also a conundrum. Santon was bought as an Enrique replacement but he replaced Danny Simpson on Sunday because Pardew (and I'm paraphrasing) 'liked what Ryan Taylor was doing' on the left hand side and I've argued in articles before that Taylor works harder and gives more to the team with his free kicks and delivery. Simpson may be more comfortable at defending (only just) but I feel more comfortable with Taylor playing and putting in that his body on the line for the cause. I think Pardew today might delay the decision on which man to drop and keep Santon on the bench for now but for me personally Santon (left back) and Taylor (right back) is the future. Captain Fabricio Coloccini apparently had a toe problem but is expected to recover and Haris Vuckic and Alan Smith have made it into the squad after recovering from their injuries. Mike Williamson is still out and is likely to miss the majority of November. So Newcastle then will probably line-up;

Krul, R Taylor, Coloccini, S Taylor, Simpson, Gutierrez, Cabaye, Tiote, Obertan, Ba, Best Subs: Elliott, Santon, Gosling, Marveaux, Ben Arfa, Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi

Though Gosling's place on the bench could easily be swapped with Smith, Guthrie or Vuckic as Pardew seems to be rotating them. And if he is worried about Coloccini's fitness, he might just put James Perch on their instead of the extra midfielder/striker as he has no other cover at centre back. In any event, Newcastle's bench hasn't looked that strong in years. For Wigan, Hugo Rodallega has recovered from injury and came off the bench last week and should start. Defender Maynor Figueroa might replace Steve Gohouri in defence. Wigan (from): Al Habsi, Boyce, Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa, Watson, Diame, Moses, Gomez, McCarthy, Di Santo, Jones, Pollitt, Stam, Van Aanholt, McArthur, Lopez, Thomas, Sammon, Maloney, Crusat, Gohouri. Prediction - 2-0 - Comfortable for Newcastle as their unbeaten run will be tester against much tougher opposition in the weeks to come.