The King Power awaits – Leicester v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Leicester v Newcastle preview.

Monday 7th April – 8pm

Newcastle United and the travelling Toon Army head to relegation threatened Leicester City on Monday night, hoping for another three points towards a place in the Champions League.

The Carabao Cup winners have won their past three matches in all competitions and will be confident of another victory against a side that have struggled for most of this season.

The Foxes however are fighting for their lives near the bottom of the table, meaning both teams are desperate for three vital points.

Newcastle have won three and lost three of their past six league matches, with wins against Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Brentford being offset by defeats to Fulham, Man City and Liverpool. The three wins however have come in the last four matches and when you take into account cup victories over Arsenal, Birmingham and Liverpool, the Toon are hitting a good run of form at the perfect time, as the race for the Champions League places starts to really heat up. We’ll end this run of fixtures between fourth and seventh in the league.

Poor old Leicester City have lost their last six league matches conceding a whopping fourteen goals in the process and scoring none. Man City, Man United, Chelsea, West Ham, Brentford and Arsenal have all taken advantage of the Foxes recently and it’s imperative we do the same. They’ll end Monday night in nineteenth place regardless of the result and look doomed in a seemingly futile battle to avoid relegation.

Last time out

Newcastle hosted Brentford on Wednesday night and enjoyed a hard earned three points thanks to Sandro Tonali’s outrageous winner.

It looked like the match may well finish all square when a Brentford penalty cancelled out Isak’s well-taken opener. Up stepped our Italian genius however, to smash home an incredible goal from a seemingly impossible angle. Brentford must have felt there was little danger as he headed towards the byline on the right hand side but when Sandro unleashed his cross/shot, the power took it past the keeper’s despairing grasp as the ball flew into the roof of the net. Along with Isak at home to Liverpool, this is one of the goals of our season. Superb!

Leicester travelled to Man City last match and gave themselves a mountain to climb when conceding two early goals. The Foxes haven’t found the net in seven Premier League games and didn’t even manage a shot on target at the Etihad. Ruud Van Nistlerooy has punished us in the past as an opposition player, let’s hope he isn’t able to as a manager.

Toon have won four of their last six away games at Leicester City.

United have found the net seven times in their last three visits to the King Power stadium.

Newcastle have won six, drawn four and lost six of sixteen Premier League away matches against these.

Memorable match

In 2018, Rafa Benitez took his Magpies team to Leicester for a crucial match that would go a long way to securing our top flight status.

A brilliant away day got off to the perfect start when Jonjo Shelvey netted a fine effort in the opening twenty minutes to give Newcastle the lead in front of the travelling fans. Newcastle dominated the first half but were let off from a huge scare when a Paul Dummet sliding tackle had Leicester fans and players screaming for a penalty that thankfully wasn’t given.

The spirit Benitez had inspired in his side was epitomised by a passage of play in the second half that saw the Toon compete for and win five sliding tackles in a row. This encouraged the Toon faithful to roar their heroes to a victory that was sealed with just fifteen minutes left to play when Ayoze Perez latched onto a long clearance from Florian Lejeune and executed a superb lob over Kasper Schmeichel’s head from fully thirty yards. There was still time for Jamie Vardy to pull back a late consolation but the day belonged to United. Final score Leicester 1-2 Newcastle.

Played for both

Nikos Dabizas was signed by Kenny Dalglish in 1997 for two million pounds. Despite being a defender, he gained a reputation for having an eye for goal and opened his account with a diving header in a 3-1 home win over Chelsea. At the end of his first season, he came agonisingly close to being immortalised in Geordie folklore when smashing a header against the crossbar in the FA Cup final. He spent six seasons at United and scored fine goals against Middlesbrough, Tottenham, Watford and Man United amongst others.

Undoubtedly, his finest hour came in February 2002 when scoring the winning goal in our first derby victory for six years. Nikos seemed to be on his own personal mission to vanquish the red and whites and, after going close on two occasions, gloriously buried a header in a fine 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light. His celebration was equally memorable, ripping his shirt off and going just as wild as the three thousand ecstatic travelling fans. He made a number of landlords very happy that weekend, becoming the toast of Tyneside. It’s safe to say he’ll never go wanting for a pint in Newcastle again!

He signed for Leicester in 2003 and spent two seasons with the Foxes. He was selected for the Greece Euro 2004 squad and managed to pick up a winners medal despite watching the entire tournament from the bench.

Ayoze Perez was signed by Alan Pardew in 2014 and soon made a name for himself by scoring in wins against Spurs, Liverpool and West Ham. He’d also score the winning goal away to Leicester on two separate occasions in 2018 and 2019. His best spell at the Toon came under Rafa Benitez at the tail end of the 18/19 season when he found the net seven times in five matches, including a hat-trick in a 3-1 home win against Southampton. He signed for Leicester in 2019 and spent three seasons there, including scoring a hat-trick against Southampton in an astonishing 9-0 away win.

Harvey Barnes came through the youth team at Leicester and had loan spells with MK Dons, Barnsley and West Brom. In Aug 2019, he scored the goal of the month with a half-volley for the Foxes against Sheffield United. He signed for Eddie Howe’s Toon in 2023. Despite a number of injuries, he’s scored some important goals, including a memorable brace against West Ham when his two strikes turned a 2-3 deficit into a brilliant 4-3 win.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a 2-1 win over Brentford:

“Tonali has a thunderbolt of a strike when he does go for goal. I was mightily relieved to see it hit the net. Always after the international break the games are different. We had players in different physical moments and we looked to have picked up a few minor injuries but hopefully nothing to keep anyone out of the next game. We are relieved to come through with the three points. I think there was a part of me that was wondering what would happen. You’re never quite sure how the players will respond to the aftermath of the cup final. That was an unbelievable moment, but football moves on very quickly and we had to be back into it. In this league, you can’t take a breather for a second. I was really hoping the players would be professional, put Wembley behind them and move forward, and we did. We had to work hard. I think it was a massive win in our season.”

Ruud Van Nistlerooy after a 2-0 defeat away to Man City:

“Not scoring, losing games, bad start is extra hard to recover from. The situation we’re in, only by hard work can we get out. The gap is huge now and it’s a challenge. Nevertheless we have eight games to play and we have to represent ourselves in the best possible way and that’s a challenge. Today before the game I mentioned it because the gap was already big. I asked the players that the remaining moments we have at this level we have to make the most of it no matter the table or the score in the game. We have to go from first to last minute and give it everything”

Charity

As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online go HERE.

Every match is now crucial with a number of teams scrambling for a place in the top five. Newcastle are on a roll at present whilst Leicester are struggling to even score, let alone win. They won’t be relishing a match against an NUFC side that hammered the Foxes 4-0 in December. I don’t think this will be pretty but hopefully we’ll have enough to take home the three points. Leicester 0-1 Newcastle