Arsenal (a)

Saturday sees us travel to the familiar surroundings of the Emirates stadium in a 5.30pm kick off. A very promising start to the season coupled with Arsenal’s indifferent beginnings has given us at Beyewatch real hope that we can go there and get a result.

However in true Newcastle style, off the field stories have caused significant unrest and debate since Tuesdays Carling cup victory and the uncertainty over man of the match James Milner’s future seems to highlight a communication breakdown between, players, management and board level at our club.
Whilst this was going on, Arsenal did their talking on the pitch with a confidence boosting 4-0 victory over Steve McClowns FC Twente.

Habib Beye was on international duty for the corresponding fixture last season and also missed the F.A. Cup defeat some four days earlier. He did however appear in the Carling cup tie last September when a defensive United were finally broken down by Wengers young side with two late goals dumping us out of the competition. Beye will however have happier memories against Arsenal at St. James Park, where his cross eventually led to Steven Taylor’s equalising goal in what was possibly Big Sams finest hour (and a half) as our boss back in November.

Keegan is going to have his work cut out keeping spirits in the dressing room high for Saturday, and it will be interesting to gauge his mood when he speaks to the press in the build up to the game. Whether or not we get any information back on the goings on in Wednesdays’ reported meeting remains to be seen.

Injuries are mounting up and any transfer activity before Mondays midnight deadline seems only likely in the outbound direction as things stand. We think it’s going to take a bit of Habib Beye magic to get a result here.

Beyewatch prediction 1-1


UPDATE!

It turns out wor Habib is one of those injuries mentioned above. An achillies problem that has troubled him all summer has ruled him out of todays clash. Lets hope the magic works from the dugout.