Newcastle United travel to Luton Town on Saturday, and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, and Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta have already told the Magpies what to expect.
Following Newcastle United’s heartbreaking Champions League exit, Eddie Howe cautioned his squad that “this game waits for no one.” In less than a week, the Magpies manager could have easily echoed similar sentiments after his team was knocked from the Carabao Cup on penalties by Chelsea.
Newcastle cannot afford to be downcast with another crucial game against Luton Town coming up on Saturday. Newcastle may have departed two tournaments in six days and suffered four defeats in their previous five games, but the black-and-whites are still only five points behind the top four. As Callum Wilson told NUFC TV, “it’s about sticking together as a team, as a football club, and everybody digging in at times like this.”
Newcastle will undoubtedly have to dig deep without up to a dozen players at Kenilworth Road, but these are the types of games that Howe’s team must win on the road. Newcastle has only won once this season on the road in the Premier League. That record has to change sooner rather than later if the Magpies are to finish in the European spots, even if their form at St James’ has been excellent.
A trip to Luton should not be a cause for concern, since the relegation-threatened Hatters have only picked up five points at home this season, but Newcastle cannot afford a hangover from the Chelsea setback. The stadium will come together to support captain Tom Lockyer, who suffered a heart arrest against Bournemouth last week, in the penultimate game before Christmas. It’s easy to see Lockyer’s teammates being energized even more by the environment.
Luton have also demonstrated that they can compete with the greatest teams in the division. Rob Edwards’ side were defeated by treble winners Manchester City after leading at half-time, and conceded a 97th-minute winner against Arsenal in a dramatic 4-3 defeat at Kenilworth Road last month. Luton Town were denied a memorable victory over Liverpool by a stoppage-time equalizer.
Jurgen Klopp was the first to admit that his team ‘didn’t deserve more than a point’. “Credit to Luton, how they defend, how they set up…it’s a tricky task to stay fully concentrated,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers confessed.
Mikel Arteta, who excitedly celebrated Arsenal’s last-gasp victory, described the game as a “big battle” against a “really difficult side to beat.” “They made life really difficult for us,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger remarked.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola compared the trip to Luton to facing Sean Dyche’s Burnley or traveling to Stoke City when he first took charge of Manchester City. “We suffered,” the Catalan said after the visitors won 2-1.
Newcastle will have a good notion of what to anticipate. As the Hatters’ former manager, Graeme Jones knows the dimensions of this narrow pitch inside and out, and once went so far as to remark – before subsequently joining Newcastle – that ‘the support and noise, for me, with 10,000 people, it was the finest I’d been in’.
During his time in command of Bournemouth, fellow number two Jason Tindall sat in the opposition dugout, while Eddie Howe and his staff have also played at this distinctive stadium in a fixture that has long stayed in the minds of opposing managers and caused top managers to change their plans.
Guardiola, for example, used ‘a lot of players in the middle to try short passes to try to prevent in this stadium the transitions, long balls, loose duels, committing dumb fouls, corners, free-kicks’. Arteta started Jakub Kiwior at left back, while Klopp did the same with Joe Gomez. Similarly, despite only appearing in the second half against Chelsea, Dan Burn is virtually expected to start on the left for Newcastle on an afternoon when the defender’s height, experience, and leadership will be needed.
After all, discounting penalties, Luton have scored six goals from set-pieces in the Premier League, with corners and free-kicks accounting for more than a third of the Hatters’ total tally. Only Arsenal, Everton, and Manchester City have a higher return.
No player has more assists from set-plays in the Premier League this season than Luton’s Alfie Doughty (four), not even West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse, and Arsenal felt the full force of those deliveries last month, with two of the three goals conceded coming directly from corners.
However, this should be meat and drink for Newcastle. Only Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City have conceded less goals from set-plays (including penalties) in the Premier League this season than Newcastle (five). Maintaining that record will be crucial in determining Newcastle’s fate on Saturday.
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