What a difference a year can make—so far. As it currently stands, Newcastle are in seventh place, eight points behind Man City (with a game in hand) and one point from next year’s European competitions. They’ve scalped a few along the way, including a 2-0 home-win over Chelsea, a 1-0 win at White Hart Lane, and a 1-0 win at Old Trafford. Long story short, they’re establishing their bona fides quite nicely.
Still, I can’t quite get past the notion that their bubble is about to burst, and we’re the ones holding the pin. After all, it was roughly seven months ago that we delivered an epic win at St. James’s Park, with Koscielny scoring to secure a fourth-place finish, despite the ruse that had a certain North London-ish club delusionally celebrating a fourth-place finish of its own, but I digress.
Come Sunday, we might see the return of one Laurent Koscielny, scorer of that all-important goal. Perhaps just as vital will be the continued return to form of Theo Walcott who, prior to that 1-0 away-win, delivered a hat-trick and two assists in a famous 7-3 win.
I won’t go so far as to predict that Walcott or Koscielny will deliver performances reminiscent of the 2012-13 season, but the omens are auspicious: it was a year to the day that saw Walcott claim his hat-trick and two assists, including the “was I tripped? No? Okay, I’ll score anyway” goal. Koscielny’s goal against Newcastle, the one that seized a 16th consecutive Champions League qualification, came on a set-piece that Walcott took and that Podolski headed on for Koscielny to finish.
I’m not suggesting that we’ll see a similar sequence on Sunday, but the stars do align to a certain degree: each of the key-players—Walcott, Podolski, Koscielny—is back from injury. In other words, without quite committing myself to any specific predictions, I do see this trio teaming up in one way or another, the exception being that, instead of claiming a fourth-place trophy, they’ll put us back atop the Prem.
Prediction? A 2-1 win, with goals coming from—you guessed it—Walcott and Podolski.
I love this write up man. Especially ur use of words. Gotta visit this blog often from now on
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback and hope to hear from you more often!
why did Arlene play Podolski?
whoops. I meant to ask why Arsene did not use Podolski
haha. I was just about to reply with the same update. I don't know why Podolski didn't come on, especially when Giroud turned his ankle just before half-time. I guess it worked out, though, when Giroud scored in the second half. Bendtner came on late, for what that's worth, and we escaped with the win. With the mid-week scrap against Cardiff, I guess we'll see Bendtner start to let Giroud rest ahead of the FA/NLD on Saturday.