Premier League: Newcastle United- Watford
We have not discussed United much this season, but ahead of their league opener with Southampton I wrote ...."United have invested heaving in the summer with new boss Steve McClaren signing Chancel Mbemba, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Georgino Wijnaldum, names which will roll off Geordie tongues (!) signed for circa 50m €. The former England coach will be desperate to hit the ground running and erase all thoughts of that disasterous finish to last season, which saw the Magpies collect just 10 points from 18 starts in 2015, before a final day win over West Ham United which confirmed their safety. That was scary and not just the results , but the level of performance, which was simply unacceptable. Big job for McClaren, but he is up to the task and I expect an upbeat showing from the Magpies today, however, whether that will be enough to beat the Saints is open to question and the visitors have scored ten goals in the last three meetings and 15 in the last six. Feel that we will see both on the scoresheet today , which has been the case in the last three meetings here in the North East."
That finished 2-2 and it was performance full of promise for long suffering (try suppporting a L1/l2 team for a few decades !) Geordies after what they had witnessed last season, they have not been able to build on that, but a point at Old Trafford and a second half showing at Upton Park last week have given reason to feel that first win was on it's way, we can forgive them the home loss to Arsenal, but failure to win today is likely to signal the end of the period of grace for McClaren and his new signings and I would call this a pivotal game in United's season and the boss has spoken about it in similar terms since the defeat on Monday. They are without suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic again today and have a couple of injuries and yes, they are trying to build a new team, but we are now six games in and from today, these are only going to be seen as excuses and now they need three points. Watford and their style of football will not be quite the surprise to McClaren it is to other EPL teams, he faced them twice last season when in charge at Derby County ( four points and four goals) ,with the visitors missing suspended holding midfielder Valon Behrami and centre back Miguel Britos, their defensive spine options are lessened and with the Hornets a team who have also struggled for goals ( just one in five ) since opening day, this is as good an opportunity as it is going to get for the Magpies, with Chelsea and Manchester City up next
Newcastle United -0.25 ball 2.11 asian line/Sportmarket.
