Newcastle United will look to keep their lead at the top of the table when they welcome Ipswich Town this weekend in the Championship. The Magpies are currently league leaders with 28 points from their opening 13 games of the season.
Rafael Benitez’s men are currently flying high with confidence after a season to forget in the Premier League last year when they were relegated. Fewer injuries, good link up play, Benitez is now experiencing a phase where nothing is going wrong for their team.
They come on the back of a comfortable 2-0 win away against Barnsley. Ipswich Town currently sit 12th in the Championship table with 17 points in their 13 games. They have only 4 wins till now and it looks like a routine win for Newcastle based on recent form.
Defence
With Massadio Haidara injured for some time now, Benitez has deployed Paul Dummett, who has shown sparks of brilliance in the last few matches. The back four of Newcastle have Ciaran Clark, Vurnon Anita and their ever reliable captain Jamaal Lascelles. Karl Darlow will start at the goal continuing his clean sheet run.
The Newcastle defence has been quite assuring this season. Though they have conceded 10 goals this season, the back four have shown consistency in the ball interceptions and aerial duels. Ciaran Clark especially has already scored 2 goals this season with an average winning of 3.3 percentage of the aerial duels per match.
Paul Dummett has been pretty impressive in back four with 4.3 percent of the aerial duels won per match. The left back has appeared 12 times this season and has the manager’s full confidence at the moment.
Midfield
Newcastle United might be having the best midfield in the Championship this season. With the likes of Matt Ritchie, Yoan Gouffran, Jonjo Shelvey, Christian Atsu, Isaac Hayden and Jack Colback, there has been no shortage of assists up front this season.
Ritchie especially has been hitting the mark brilliantly with 1 goal and 4 assists. Gouffran has provided 2 goals and 1 assist, Isaac Hayden with1 goal and 1 assist and leading the pack with 3 goals and 5 assists has been Shelvey. All eyes will be on the Englishman and his partnership with man in form, Dwight Gayle, again this week.
Attack
With players like Dwight Gayle, Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Ayoze Perez, Benitez has plenty of options up front who can put the ball in the back of the net. Gayle has been in hot form this season with a whopping 11 goals already. Both Mitrovic and Perez have one goal each. Mohamed Diame is yet to open his score sheet but his drive in the attack has been beneficial to the Magpies.
