Cardiff City v Newcastle United
Cardiff City Away
The Cardiff Stadium
Sunday 13th September Kick-off 2:05pm
Sixth Championship Game of the season
Cardiff have Michael Chopra ex Mag and leading goalscorer in he Championship playing for them. Newcastle enter the weekend top of the league by two points with West Brom and Cardiff chasing them.
Injuries to key forward players means that we will most likely play the favoured 4-5-1 formation away from home again, as we did so succesffully at Crystal Palace last time out. Nile Ranger will start as new loan signing Peter Lovenkrands regains his fitness, having missed any pre-season training or match practice. Andy Carroll was close to returning however, he failed the final fitness test on Friday and remains injured. Shola Ameobi starts his two months recovery from a stress fracture of the foot.
Chris Hughton picked up manage of the month award and Shola Ameobi picked up player of the month award in the Coca-Cola Championship for August. Let's hope the usually drop in form does not follow the award winners.
Nicky Butt return to captain the midfield having recovered from his pre-season injury, and Alan Smith the bearded wonder, has stated he will not shave again until Newcastle lose.
Finally Newcastle protect a goalmouth that has not seen a goal for the last 360 minutes in the League. Steve Harper and the back four will be well tested by Chopra and Bothroyd.
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Squad:
Newcastle Squad:
Steve Harper, Tim Krul, Danny Simpson, Nicky Butt (c), Jose Enrique, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith, Geremi, Kazenga LuaLua, Tamas Kadar, Nile Ranger, Ben Tozer, Ryan Donaldson, Darren Lough, Wesley Ngo Baheng, Haris Vuckic, Peter Lovenkrands
Injuries:
Shola Ameobi (foot), Andy Carroll (groin), Jonas Gutierrez (Hamstring)
Referee:
Andrew Hall (West Midlands)
Chris Hughton Comments
talking to The Chronicle
“I’m expecting a really tough game, probably our toughest. That’s no disrespect to anybody else we’ve played, but you always focus on the next task in hand, which for us is Cardiff City. I know they have been very good at their new stadium and that their fans will demand a performance from their players. That is another factor, but for our players it’s a chance to play in a great atmosphere. Our approach will be to continue what we’ve already demonstrated in previous games.
Spirits in training have been very high. It was normal to give the players a couple of days off. Their routine has been interrupted because of the international break. But some of them have had their breather and are ready to go again. It seems quite a while ago since we played last, but obviously we are going all out to keep this great run going.”
on Size of Squad talking to nufcTV
"We're aware that we need to strengthen this squad and we're very hopeful of doing that. We've done very well so far and have avoided serious injury problems, but we definitely need to bring a couple of players in in certain areas."
Dave Jones Cardiff Manager Said
"They're a Premier League football club in this division,I think this is one of the biggest league games this football club has had for many a year because of who we are playing.
Everybody wrote them off - the so-called experts not the people within the game. They knew they had good players and the staff know their players because they've been there a while.
Nobody expected them to be as bad as what the experts were saying, because players have a lot of pride and 44,000 fans that turn up won't allow them to go out on to the pitch and not perform. Hopefully we can get the result we are all looking for. We are playing a very, very tough side who are top of the league. They will want to stay there but we want to knock them off and get with them."
Head to Head
Toon @ Cardiff:
- 2003/04 Won 3-1 Ameobi, Taggard (og), Jenas
- 1983/84 won 2-0 Keegan, Beardsley
- 1981/82 won 4-0 Varadi 3, Davies(pen)
- 1980/81 lost 0-1
- 1979/80 drew 1-1 Shinton
- 1978/79 lost 1-2 Connolly
- 1964/65 drew 1-1 Cummings
- 1963/64 drew 2-2 Cummings, McGarry(pen)
- 1962/63 drew 4-4 Fell(pen), Kerray, Hilley, og
- 1960/61 lost 2-3 Allchurch, White
Recent Results
| Cardiff City | Newcastle United |
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Steven Taylor on Michael Chopra
talking to The Chronicle
“He’s (Chopra) a very good finisher, but if we perform like we have been doing, I don’t see them scoring a goal. It’s down to us as players to stop that happening. Every game’s different – we’ll have to wait and see. I look forward to every challenge in every game, not just Michael Chopra. He’s done well scoring his goals, but we’ll hopefully put a stop to that. It’ll be a physical game. We’ll give their players respect, but not too much.
The clean sheets have helped – I think it’s a long time since Newcastle have had that. This is the tightest we’ve been as a team, and the performances have shown that. We taken confidence and belief from every game. Teams might come to St James’s Park thinking we’re a soft touch with us coming down from the Premier League. We try to send a message out early doors by attacking teams – we don’t sit off any more.
It (Cardiff) is a very hostile, and we know what to expect off their fans. As players we love that – we thrive on it, and it won’t affect any of us. We’ve got to attack teams and we’re fit enough to do that. We’ve got enough players and ability to play three games in a week.”
Fun Facts
- Newcastle are aiming to complete five league wins in a row for the first time since April 2006
- The Magpies' return of 13 points from a first possible 15 is their best start to a league season in 15 years
- If Geremi is named in the 11, it will be the former Chelsea player's 150th start for an English club.