Barclays Premiership - Match 18
 

Season 2007-2008

NEWCASTLE UNITED

 v

DERBY COUNTY
  Date: Sunday 24th December 2007
  Venue: St James' Park
  Kick Off: 1:00am (AEST)
  Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
  Australian Live TV: Foxsports 2
  Internet Live TV Coverage: Check http://www.football4less.com & http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/ closer to kick off.
  Weather Forecast: 5c
 

 
  Betting:
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Newcastle win Draw Derby  win
$1.33 $4.75 $10.00
   
  Squad:
  Given, Harper
Beye, Rozehnal, Taylor, Cacapa, Edgar, Enrique, N'Zogbia
Geremi, Butt, Barton, Emre, Milner
Smith Martins, Viduka
   
  Team News:
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- Peter Ramage (knee) is out for the rest of the season after getting inured at Middlesbrough.
- Abdoulaye Faye (hamstring) had a runout on Wednesday but won't be considered
- Stephen Carr (hamstring) hasn't fully recovered and misses out.
- Michael Owen (thigh) is back in training but this game comes to soon for him.
- Damien Duff (ankle) has scored twice in two friendly games but this games comes to soon.
   
  Sam Allardyce's pre-game comments:
  "We have the chance to make it three wins in a row and that's a great milestone to try to achieve. It would be a huge confidence boost going into Christmas and it keeps us on track for where we want to go. Derby may be bottom but the game will be more difficult than people expect. Our players will have to show great effort and professionalism before using our skills to get the win.It would also be great for the fans to give them some Christmas cheer because they have been magnificent in recent weeks.

Revenge is perhaps too strong a word, but that game was a huge disappointment. They gave a battling performance and scored a wonder goal. But, to be honest, we were awful and that was our worst game of the season. We'll be hoping to make up for that on Sunday and we want nothing less than three points.

A number of players featured in a practice game on Wednesday but Michael Owen was not one of them. The thigh strain has taken a little longer than we thought to heal and he won't be back in training until the end of the week. We'd hoped he would be able to play in the practice match and then against Derby, but we'll just have to be patient with him.

Everyone who played in the practice match has come through it fine but Steven Taylor is the only one who is likely to come back into the team for the Derby game. He looks fine after missing the Fulham match with a hamstring problem. Damien played another 90 minutes and is getting stronger, but I don't think he will be involved at all against Derby.

 We do play an incredible amount of games in a short period of time, which is unique in world football and it is extremely demanding. But I can’t call for a cut in the number of Christmas games because it is traditional. Some things should be kept traditional in football and this is one of them. It is a very busy period, but it is also very popular and we have to get on with it the best we can. 

You could reduce the number of games by one, but I don’t want to see this tradition ended, even if other leagues in Europe probably think we’re mad the amount of football we play.

What would be far better, for me, would be to get the Christmas period over and done with and then have a two-week break in January to allow the players, and everyone else involved in a football club, to recover from the gruelling schedule. That makes sense to me, but it is something I’ve argued for a long time.

When you look at some of the foreign players they are coming from leagues where they have a nice break over Christmas. They won’t get that this time.

It’s going to be hard for them, but we’ve warned them they are prepared for it. They’ve already had to get used to a new style of football, but this will be a massive culture shock for them as well I’d imagine."
   
  Match Stats:
 
 @ St James' Park
 All Time: Newcastle 27 wins Derby 13 wins Draws 13
 Premier League Only: Newcastle 5 wins Derby 0 wins Draws 1
   
 

My thoughts:
 

2 wins and a draw in the last 3 games, means December has certainly been better month than November. We have stopped the tide and turned round a shocking run of results and performances. The last game was far from pretty but at this stage of the season we just needed some results badly.

Derby at home gives us a great opportunity to continue this run and a chance to revenge our defeat down at Pride Park in September. That has been Derby’s sole victory of the season so far and with an away record that reads won 0, drew 1, lost 8, scored 1 and conceded 24, you’d have to feel confident that they won’t get their 2nd.

Lets hope for some Christmas cheer and 3 points.
 
HOWAY THE LADS!!!
 
  Did you know?
- If we beat Derby it will be the first time in over a year that we will have won 3 Premierships games in a row.
- Shay Given will be making his 450th club career appearance.