Derby Day In The North-East
Off the back of their nightmare in Barcelona on Wednesday, Newcastle welcome arch rivals Sunderland to St. James’ Park in search of three points to put themselves back in touch with the challengers for next season’s European spots.
The Magpies have won their last two Premier League fixtures, beating Manchester United on home soil before Anthony Gordon secured a 1-0 win at Chelsea. Unfortunately for Eddie Howe’s side, March has also seen them dumped out of the FA Cup and humiliated in Europe.
Newcastle are without Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes through injury, with both players being linked with an exit this week as Manchester United reportedly step up their interest.
Guimaraes is a big loss for Howe’s side, having already been involved in 13 goals this season despite not playing since February 10th.
Sunderland have had an impressive return to the Premier League and currently sit 13th, just two points behind their rivals.
Prediction
Newcastle will just edge it as they will be desperate to put their Catalan nightmare behind them. 1-0.
Relegation Battle: Tudor v. Pereira
Vitor Pereira takes his Nottingham Forest side to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, desperately searching for a first win in the league since January 25th. Forest have taken just four points in the seven games since beating Brentford.
The visitors go into the crunch clash on the back of European success, sealing their path to the last eight of the Europa League with a penalty shootout win against the Danish side FC Midtjylland on Thursday.
Pereira is still without last season’s talisman, Chris Wood, who is not expected to return until well into April. The New Zealand international has not played since coming off in a 3-0 defeat at home to Chelsea in October.
Spurs welcome Forest on the back of a confidence-boosting 2nd leg victory against Atletico Madrid, although the damage was done in Spain, and the European adventure is over for another season.
Igor Tudor’s men came away from Anfield with a point in their last domestic fixture, having suffered three successive Premier League defeats under the Croatian.
Spurs continue to do without players like Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Wilson Odobert and may also be missing Palinha, who is doubtful due to a concussion.
Prediction
This game is huge in deciding which side gets to face Lincoln City next season, assuming West Ham starts picking up points. Tottenham to win 2-0.
The Best Of The Rest
Bournemouth hosts Manchester United tonight, kickstarting the weekend’s action with the visitors looking to close the gap on Manchester City to just four points as City prepare for their final on Sunday. This one feels like a 1-1 draw is written all over it!
I expect to see a win for Liverpool at Brighton, Fulham to draw at home to Burnley, Everton to narrowly beat Chelsea and Leeds to beat Brentford.
On Sunday, Aston Villa will get a win against West Ham, and Pep will win the Carabao Cup, again!