Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
- Shakespeare, Richard III
Newcastle find themselves firmly within the winter (decade?) of their discontent, heading into a near-enough dead rubber "clash" with their neighbours in tenth place, a Stoke City side who have passed the magical forty-point barrier with some great results under Mark Hughes and can now count on Premier League football next season.
Whether the stern alarums borne in the Gallowgate last week will indeed change to merry meetings is yet to be seen; the Toon come into this match having gained only 13 points since Boxing Day, when Stoke capitulated early with two sendings-off to allow a 5-1 romp with goals from Messrs. Remy, Gouffran, Cabaye and Cisse. Gouffran hasn't scored since, Cisse has registered one league goal and Remy has managed 3 in the intermittent three and a half months.
Our hosts come in with decently indifferent form, having gained 19 points since we last met, including a sneaky win over Man United (sound familiar?) and have won three of their last five. Their main goal threats come in Peter Crouch (8 league goals), Charlie Adam (6), Peter Odemwingie (4) and Jonathan Walters (4), all of whom will be fit to start against us - pending medical approval of Adam's nose guard after a head injury sustained earlier in the week.
A reminder that all matches this weekend will kick off at 3.07pm (including one minute's silence) in rememberance of the 96 fans killed at Hillsborough on 15 April, 1989 in Sheffield.
The Past
Newcastle have visited The Britannia five times in this millennium, winning just once, when Demba Ba's hat-trick won a 3-1 scrap in 2011/12. Previous wins came in 1995 and 1984. Other than that it's been a little indifferent:
2012/13 1-2 (Cisse)
2011/12 3-1 (Ba, 3)
2010/11 0-4
2008/09 1-1 (Carroll)
2007/08 0-0 (FA Cup)
The Ref
We're all delighted to hear that whistler Mike Jones has been appointed to cover this game. It really is lovely to see the visually impaired being given opportunities to work as a football referee.
Jones has also taken charge of the Capital One Cup win over Leeds early in the season, as well as a 1-1 draw against Southampton at SJP and the "Never Forget" 0-2 'loss' against Man City also on Tyneside.
Teams
Newcastle are definitely without goal enabler Loic Remy, and Mathieu Debuchy and Moussa Sissoko will miss out due to injuries. Better news is the return of Tim Krul to the goal line after a knee injury sustained several matches ago, despite a more than apt cover in the form of Rob Elliot. Davide Santon will presumably reprise his right-back role which he took well last week at Southampton, although Yoan Gouffran and Sammy Ameobi are understood not to be available for selection, leaving a shortage of left wing players.
Stoke, meanwhile, are definitely without vicious centreback Robert Huth, who is sidelined. Toon tormentor Oussama Assaidi, on loan from Liverpool and scorer of the Potters' only goal on Boxing Day, is a doubt, as is Charlie Adam, pending medical approval on Friday.
Analysis
Pending - until my screenshot browser extension starts working. So meanwhile: http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/720836/Preview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?
We Say
Alan Pardew, serving the penultimate game of his touchline ban, said:
“We are far from finished in the league and if we can get a win or score the first goal it will give us a boost to kick on. You need to stand tall, especially at a club like Newcastle United; the players need to be resilient and hopefully they will show that at Stoke."
"Loic won't make this game, but he's training and we'd like to think he'll make the next game. To lose the spearhead of your team is difficult. We're just trying to give the best performance that we can and the biggest thing is to try and get a result. Tim's been training and he's got a chance of playing. Loic is not too far away and it will be a boost for the squad if we can get him back in and around us. Hopefully we can do that for Stoke because that is a big game for us, we’ve lost two heavily at home."
"I'm pleased that Lee's been appointed in that role. He's somebody who knows the club inside out. He's worked on transfers and has good experience on those, and I hope we can work together in the summer to secure the players we need and we're focusing on that at the moment. There's absolutely no conflict in terms of where we're going. The owner's set out the criteria and we've got to bring in players to take us forward. We're in a position to bring in players in the summer and hopefully push on from where we finish this season, and that's likely to be eighth, ninth or tenth."
They Say
Mark Hughes, nominee for Manager of the Month, said:
"[Oussaidi] has been to Holland to see a knee specialist,' Hughes said. 'We are looking at all avenues to get him back as quickly as possible.
Mark Wilson, sent off in December's match, said:
"That was a setback the last time we played them. Myself and Glenn [Whelan] got sent off after playing well, and the manager himself then got sent to the changing room. When you have two sent off it's always going to be difficult, especially as Newcastle have got some great players. Now we want to set things straight."
Around the Grounds
Crystal Palace v Aston Villa
Fulham v Norwich City
Southampton v Cardiff City
Sunderland v Everton
West Bromwich Albion v Spurs
