Newcastle United will be eager to move further away from the relegation zone by getting some points out of the Leicester City fixture this Saturday. The Magpies will be travelling to the King Power Stadium to face the 8th placed side while still holding a 7-point lead over the bottom three.
Rafael Benitez might just have found the formula for relegation survival as the Tyneside club has hit a run of form in recent weeks. They dealt out a 3-0 thrashing to Southampton earlier in the March before beating Huddersfield by 1-0 in the previous weekend.
St James’ Park was roaring with excitement when Ayoze Perez slotted in the late goal, especially after witnessing their side miss plethora of scoring chances against the defensive Terriers side.
Now, Benitez has the job of seeing out the rest of the season with style. He still has to face Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in the next 7 games and that is enough to strain the sweat glands.
Maximum points is the aim but not guaranteed. The hosts are on a similar run of form after beating Brighton And Hove Albion by 2 goals in the last gameweek. They seem to be recovering well from the 5-1 thrashing they received against Manchester City earlier in February, and are on a 2-game winning streak, not that West Brom put up much of a fight in the 4-1 showing at the Hawthorns on the 10th.
Benitez will have to bring out his bag of tricks to overcome the charged Foxes side. Here is how United might lineup on matchday.
Formation: 4-4-1-1
Defence
Both Karl Darlow and Rob Elliot are backup options now that Martin Dubravka has arrived at the club. The 29-year-old’s heroics against the Red Devils has earned him the first team spot and is expected to feature in this tie.
Jamaal Lascelles and Florian Lejeune are expected to get paired up in the centre-back position.
Paul Dummett might provide cover from the left and DeAndre Yedlin from the right.
Midfield
Mohamed Diame was taken off against Huddersfield due to a knock but might just be available for this tie. He should find Jonjo Shelvey next to him in the holding midfield role.
The flanks might be occupied by Kenedy on the left and Matt Ritchie on the right.
Attack
Ayoze Perez is the predicted starter in the shadow striker role with Dwight Gayle up front. Islam Slimani is unavailable for selection against his parent club.
