Steve Bruce’s large centre-back head cut a wry grin at the weekend as his applaudable Newcastle side equalised twice to hold Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to a draw – even if the Magpies had had their backs to the ropes and were swinging for the fences the whole game.
Meanwhile, at Molineux, the Blades were held to a 1-1 draw to split the rewards in one of the most unlikely European-chasing six-pointer games of the last decade.
The league’s most surprising over-achievers welcome, arguably, one of the league’s biggest under-achievers based on their spectacular misuse of transfer budget – but what are the key battles that are going to take place under the floodlights at Bramall Lane?
John Fleck vs Jonjo Shelvey
Newcastle’s midfield engine rescued a point late on at the weekend with a fantastic first-time right-footed strike from outside the box and the Magpies will be reliant on their skipper to pull the strings in midfield once more; playing balls out to Miguel Almirón and Allan Saint-Maximin on the wings and feeding to the faltering Joelinton up top.
For the Blades, Fleck has been the typical consistent central midfielder – averaging over 33 passes a game as the Scot covers large amounts of the pitch and backs up Oliver Norwood and John Lundstram as they roam outside the box. If Fleck can swarm Shelvey in attacking areas, Newcastle might struggle to string together a real attacking threat as they have been doing.
Lys Mousset vs Paul Dummett
‘The Moose’ has muscled his way into Chris Wilder’s starting line-up with a barrage of prolific performances, scoring five goals and contributing three assists in only 505 minutes on the pitch – his last contribution being within a minute of kick-off against Wolves.
The 23-year-old’s incisive movement into pockets of space is lethal against stunted defences, making Paul Dummett the one responsible to cover Mousset as the Frenchman likes to veer to the left-hand side of the box. The Welsh defender will have to maintain the stubborn structure of Newcastle’s back-five to try mute Mousset, but with him locking horns with the league’s most in-form striker then it will be a tough task.
Chris Basham vs Joelinton
Tyneside’s £40 million acquisition has yet to hit his stride in black and white, averaging less than one shot on target every two games. The Brazilian isn’t being catered for in Steve Bruce’s regime, being left isolated up top in a flat 5-4-1 as opposed to the huge amounts of support he had behind him at Hoffenheim, yet is still shouldered with the role of being Newcastle’s sole attacking threat.
Opposite him, Sheffield’s Chris Basham is the most prolific tackler outside the ‘big six’ and has been a stalwart defender in Wilder’s overlapping defence – making life very difficult for Newcastle’s big man to latch onto the little supply he receives. It may be only a matter of time before Joelinton shows his true talents, but he won’t be given much wiggle room to perform on a wet Thursday night in Sheffield.
