Easier task for Newcastle afte last week's heroics
By Vic Mills
LONDON (JP): After the heroics of last Sunday, Newcastle United, three points clear at the top of the Premiership, faces much less daunting opposition this weekend away to Leicester City.
The talk all week on Tyneside has been the eclipse of Manchester United. While one victory does not win a championship, this has not stopped players, management and supporters from savoring their most satisfying result in months.
Under leaden skies, Newcastle United rained goals to take sweet revenge for all that Manchester United has inflicted upon it. After the defensive frailties in Hungary days before, Newcastle's back four held firm. A measure of its team play can be gauged by the fact that five different names appeared on the scoresheet.
Impressive
Shearer and Ferdinand added to their increasingly impressive tally; and with a combined value of 21 million pounds, so they should. The best was reserved for last, however, as Philippe Albert, freed from his running battle with Cantona, chipped Schmeichel from 25 yards.
The result confirmed Newcastle's all-round improvement. And none more so than the midfield where Batty's endeavor again impressed, although on the day it was the finesse of Beardsley, Lee and Ginola that caught the eye.
The Newcastle-Leicester battle will be aired live on SCTV today, starting at 22.00 West Indonesia Time.
Beaten at West Ham last Saturday, and with just two wins and four goals at home this season, Leicester City will do well to contain a rampant Newcastle side.
Manager Martin O'Neill is aware of his side's limitations. Set to play a 5-3-2 formation, he will look initially to contain and then hope that rising star Emile Heskey can spring a surprise up front.
After eight frenetic days that saw it play Liverpool at home and Fenerbahce and Newcastle away, Manchester United has spent a recuperative few days reflecting on a schedule that would have tested the very best.
While taking nothing away from Newcastle, this was a very weary looking Manchester performance. It is now up to manager and assistant, Alex Ferguson and Brian Kidd, to focus the players for Saturday's tricky away game against fast-improving Southampton.
Gray shirts
In the corresponding fixture last season, Manchester United, beaten 3-1, changed its shirts at half-time complaining that players could not spot each other in the gray strip.
The likelihood is that it will have more to worry about than gray shirts this time around. The combination of good results, new signing and Matthew Le Tissier rediscovering lost form has added a mood of expectancy to club and town.
Of the Premiership's top three, only Arsenal, which entertains Leeds United, has a home fixture this weekend. Billed as the return of the prodigal, Highbury is gearing itself to welcome back former manager, George Graham.
Having achieved considerable success with the club, Graham was sacked and banned from football for a year after accepting illegal payments.
With the welcome unlikely to extend to the pitch, Arsenal, still short of goals, looks set to reunite Ian Wright and a fit- again Dennis Bergkamp for the first time since September.
The visitors, desperate for goals themselves, will look for a return to form of former Liverpool ace Ian Rush. However, the signs, with Tomas Brolin unwilling to return from loan and rumors that Lee Sharpe is set for Middlesbrough, are not good.
Impervious to the stresses and strains of life at the bottom, Wimbledon, the undisputed team of the moment, march on. The defeat of Chelsea last weekend, its seventh successive win, has taken it to third in the Premiership.
The Crazy Gang travel north to face Middlesbrough today. The task for Ravenelli and friends will be to get behind Wimbledon's well drilled, deep set defense. Visiting forwards, Robbie Earle and Efan Ekoku, fresh from their success at Stamford Bridge, look set for a far easier time against the worst defense in the Premiership.
Saddest story
Chelsea features in the saddest story this week. Having lost a Coca-Cola Cup match to Bolton on Tuesday evening, news broke later that millionaire vice chairman Matthew Harding and four others had been killed in a helicopter crash en route to the capital after the match.
A minute's silence will be observed before all Premiership matches this weekend. In what promises to be a somber affair, Chelsea entertains near neighbors Tottenham today in a game that should see the return of Ruud Gullit.
Having rallied after disappointing early season form, Tottenham, still without the injured Anderton, has strung together some impressive performances, the latest being a fine away win at Middlesbrough.
Elsewhere, fourth-placed Liverpool, fearing a fixture pile-up following the Everton postponement, faces Derby County at Anfield tomorrow. Having lost its last Premiership game to Manchester United, Liverpool will be keen to put its title challenge back on course.