Lineups Vs. Villa: Unleash The New Front Three

At the end of the Fulham match, Loïc Rémy and Yoan Gouffran came on the field, and as Alan Pardew described it, Newcastle "looked a bit of a powerhouse." In the two weeks since, Rémy's fitness should have improved enough for him to earn his first start for the club.

I think Pardew was a bit elusive in that post-match interview, and not just about the future of Yohan Cabaye ahead of the transfer deadline. He's had better attacking options all along, as I've tried to point out in my previous lineup posts. Most of you seemed to side with the manager in this case - at least until Shola Ameobi and Papiss Cissé demonstrated what I'd been trying to explain. But Rémy's return to full health should remove any remaining excuses Pardew has for not employing a more suitable style. It's time to unleash the new front three against Aston Villa tomorrow.

As always, I'll pick the starting XI that I would prefer, then end the post with a prediction of the actual lineup tomorrow.

Back five: Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Fabricio Coloccini, Davide Santon

Since the opening-day disaster, it's been two straight clean sheets in the Premier League, with this defense playing both matches. Steven Taylor was also suspended. As we discussed on Monday's podcast, that's not a coincidence. If Pardew starts Taylor ahead of Yanga-Mbiwa at center back, I will fly to Newcastle and scream at him in person. It would be that ridiculous. But I really can't imagine it happening, either.

Midfield: Vurnon Anita, Moussa Sissoko, Sylvain Marveaux

This is exactly where Marveaux can be at his most productive, as I explained yesterday. He'll have three forwards ahead of him, hopefully moving from left to right and finding space, and two midfielders behind him for defensive cover. I must admit that I wasn't convinced that Anita and Sissoko would be stout enough defensively to play together, but they've both been effective two-way players the last two weeks.

Because Anita and Sissoko have been so good, there's no need to bring Cabaye back into the starting lineup. Obviously, we'll never know the exact circumstances that caused Cabaye to sit out the first two matches of the season. But it doesn't set an especially good precedent to bench a player who had been doing well for someone who wanted to leave. Pardew should take a stand and make him earn his place, rather than simply handing it to him.

Forwards: Loïc Rémy, Papiss Cissé, Hatem Ben Arfa

I gave serious thought to leaving Cissé on the bench, as he's continued to struggle at the start of the season. But he gets a reprieve, just to see if he can make something happen with a more suitable set of teammates. If he makes well-timed runs off the ball, Cissé should have plenty of chances to receive the ball at his feet in dangerous positions.

Should Newcastle continue to look blunt up front, I would bring Gouffran on for Cissé in the second half and tell him to continually swap places with Rémy and Ben Arfa. While he's not a great finisher (though not nearly as poor as fans think), his ability to create and find space is incredibly useful. Especially when he'll have two players with him up front with plenty of confidence to spare.

Who Pardew will choose: Krul; Debuchy, Yanga-Mbiwa, Coloccini, Santon; Cabaye, Sissoko; Ben Arfa, Marveaux, Rémy; Cissé

Comments

[gary]

im a qpr season ticket holder and enjoy remy while you can mates becuse when were back up hes back to us you got some replacement for demba ba there m8 he really is the difference between you stayin up and you goin down

[Phil]

Villa fan here trying to work out how you lot will line up! Haven't seen much of Newcastle but a bit surprised you expect to play that attacking away from home. We've come a long way since we lost to you in January. Only the top teams have beaten us since and only United beat us by more than 1 goal. You might be surprised by our quality.

Predicted team: Guzan; Lowton Okore Vlaar Luna; Westwood Delph; Weimann Tonev Agbonlahor; Benteke.

Watch out for Kozak from the bench. He knows where the goal is and can be a bit of a "handfull". For example he scored a good goal against Italy the other day…but also accidentally caused a defender to need 50 stitches in his face. Yeah. Really.

[Jaeger]

think we'll have tiote in there instead of marveaux and gouffran will start with remy coming off the bench in the second half.

thinking the defense will do a decent job against benteke but i could see weimann or some midfielder having an open spot in the box for a goal. 1-1 or 1-2 for result tomorrow.