Lineups Vs. Chelsea: Which Team Shows Up?

Newcastle fans have felt a bit like Forrest Gump of late: like the proverbial box of chocolates, you never know what sort of team you're going to get. A very strong draw against Liverpool was followed up by a tame derby effort. Then, amid the controversy surrounding the derby loss and media ban, Alan Pardew's men really should have beaten Manchester City in the League Cup on Wednesday. Sadly, poor finishing undid an otherwise sterling match, and the Citizens scored twice in extra time.

With such unpredictable showings from Newcastle in the last two weeks, it's almost impossible to know what tomorrow's match against Chelsea will look like. But I'll do my best to pick a team that can upend the Blues for the third season in a row. As always, I'll start out by selecting my starting lineup for the match, then end the post by predicting Pardew's actual XI.

Keeper and back four: Tim Krul; Mathieu Debuchy, Mike Williamson, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon

As it turned out, the rumors of Fabricio Coloccini's derby return were a bit of a smokescreen. Paul Dummett started last week in his place, with uneven results. Before the match even settled in, he got outjumped by Steven Fletcher for Sunderland's first goal. Then he and Williamson didn't communicate effectively on Fabio Borini's winner, with no one closing the Italian down on his long-range effort.

Even if Pardew entertained thoughts of starting Dummett again, he injured his hamstring in Wednesday's match. So it will almost certainly be Williamson and Yanga-Mbiwa who start tomorrow. The two played well for 40 minutes against Liverpool, then Luis Suárez tumbled to the turf, erasing all of that good work. Against a potent set of attacking players, they'll need to be in top form and mistake-free. I'll leave it to you to decide how likely that is.

Midfield: Cheick Tioté, Vurnon Anita, Yohan Cabaye

Anita for the struggling Moussa Sissoko is an overdue change for both me and Pardew. Though Sissoko burst onto the Premier League scene in this fixture last season, he's looked fairly pedestrian over the last few weeks. It's time for him to take a week off to regroup and give Anita another chance. Because Anita and Tioté are both true holding midfielders, Cabaye should stay further up the field, even making late runs into the box if necessary. It's not his natural position, but it's the one he's best suited to play in this trio.

Forwards: Hatem Ben Arfa, Yoan Gouffran, Loïc Rémy

Two seasons ago, Ben Arfa totally baffled Sunderland in the derby, turning Kieran Richardson inside out with a few dazzling runs. But last week, it was Ben Arfa who looked lost, putting in an incredibly frustrating shift both as a center forward and on the wing. With Ben Arfa struggling, Pardew needs to keep it simple, which means sticking him on the right wing where he belongs.

Take your pick of two misfiring strikers to play in the center. Both Gouffran and Papiss Cissé wilted in front of goal on Wednesday night. As I am still the proud owner of a Gouffran shirt, you know where my allegiance lies. But given the effort he expended against City, expect him to head to the bench in the last half hour, giving Cissé a chance to make up for his string of misses in Wednesday's match. At least Cissé had chances to score, which is a sign he could be starting to wake up.

Who Pardew will pick: Krul; Debuchy, Williamson, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon; Tioté, Sissoko, Cabaye; Ben Arfa, Cissé, Rémy.

Comments

[Dave from Newcastle]

My God, if this team does not add a striker in January we are screwed. One option has 0 finishing ability and the other option has finishing ability but seems to have lost it sometime during the summer of 2012.

Anita needs to play if for no other reason than the way Tiote is playing he is probably starting to inflate his value to the point that he's sellable again. Time to get Anita some work.