Date: Saturday, December 14 Venue: St James' Park Kick-Off: 15:00 Can Newcastle continue their surge up the Premier League table by seeing off Southampton on Saturday?
Team News
Newcastle will be without Yohan Cabaye through suspension for Saturday's visit of Southampton in the Premier League, after the midfielder amassed five yellow cards and serves a one-game ban. Magpies manager Alan Pardew has reported no fresh injury concerns. Southampton could be without Morgan Schneiderlin, who is struggling with a pelvic injury, while Victor Wanyama, Artur Boruc, Nathaniel Clyne, Daniel Fox and Kelvin Davis are all still sidelined. (bbc)
Key Stats
Newcastle are unbeaten in 10 home league and cup games against Southampton stretching back to November 1997, winning nine of them. Last weekend's draw with Manchester City ended a run of three straight defeats for the Saints. France striker Loic Remy has failed to score in his last three games (358 minutes), his longest run without a goal for Newcastle this season. Six of Southampton's 19 goals have come five minutes either side of half-time, while five were scored in the last 10 minutes.
Rewind 10 months, and Newcastle and Southampton found themselves in the Premier League's bottom five, anxiously sweating over their futures and constantly peering over their shoulders. What a long way each side has come since then, with both clubs currently sitting pretty in the top 10 and above defending English champions Manchester United. A lot of credit must go to Alan Pardew, who was deservedly named Premier League manager of the month for November, and Mauricio Pochettino, who has transformed the Saints into Europa League contenders in no time at all. Both Newcastle and Southampton will head into this encounter with confidence, the Magpies especially following their historic win over United at Old Trafford, and Southampton, who may be reflecting that they should have beaten City in their last outing. And that could lead to a free-flowing, fearless performance from both sides, with Newcastle looking to extend their unbeaten run at home to Southampton to 11 games. Taking into account the fact the Saints have scored fewer away goals (five) than any other top-half side, I'm going for a Magpies win. Prediction: 2-1
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
