Newcastle v West Brom match preview

Of the many matches in the Premier League this Saturday, curiously one that might have the most impact on their respective clubs is Newcastle's trip to West Brom. I stress the notion of "most impact" because with both clubs in a death spiral fight to avoid relegation, full points by either side will have a significant impact upon the title.

Heading into the twenty-third match, the bottom seven clubs are separated by a measly seven points and it appears that the relegation fight will go down to the final moments with any number of possible clubs falling to the Championship. For the Toon Army, such thoughts are nauseating but it is straight fact that needs to be served straight up. Only two points above the bottom spot and with six of their final fourteen matches against clubs in the top six of the table, points will be at a premium and they cannot afford to drop "winnable" matches. Using a targeted point total of thirty-nine to assure safety Joe Kinnear's efforts need to first deal with drawing in fifteen points in the remaining matches.

That of-course is in-theory and West Brom after falling out of the Premier in 2006, will not be go down without a fight after winning the Championship last year. Summarily, if you wanted to see to clubs slug it out for their Football lives, The Hawthorns is the place to be.

Tony Mowbray is more than aware of the relegation fight and has structured his tactical focus on grabbing points where his club can and not being discouraged with the odd beating. While West Brom looked deplorable being beaten by Man Utd 5-0, in the last two months they have drawn level to Hull City and Portsmouth as well as defeating Middlesbrough, Tottenham and Manchester City. In comparison to the eleven points they have amassed, over the same time frame the Magpies have one once with three draws for a total five points. Clearly the trend is obvious and Newcastle needs to stem the tide or the topic of relegation will bathe daily commentary to the final days of the campaign.

With that in-mind, the alarms have been sounded and whether fully fit or not, Oba Martins, Alan Smith and Mark Viduka will all feature. I'm not sure if an old number 9 has a morsel left in those boots but you get the point, everyone is healthy as this is one fight you cannot lose.

Of the newly healthy trio, Joe Kinnear said:

"Oba, Smudge and Dukes have all trained well this week and were out there this morning at St.James'.

"I expect them all to take some part in Saturday's game, all I've got to decide is if it's from the start or from the bench.

"I'd probably say Oba is the closest to starting and I'll have another look at him on Friday."

"It's a massive boost having them back and you can sense an increase in the intensity of the training.

"They are top-quality players and having them, as well as Ryan Taylor and Kevin Nolan, join in this week has really lifted spirits."

Additionally Jonás Gutiérrez is in the sin-bin with Fabricio Coloccini and Andy Carroll both questionable.