A first win back in the Premier League came at a timely moment to prevent a three weekend break from football for Coventry City being a desolate one. As important as that maiden victory was, the real indication of how this season is going to go will depend on how soon the second one comes – after all, any underdog can randomly win one game, doing so with consistency is what will make the Sky Blues a top-flight club next year.
After losing the first two home games of the season – along with a League Cup defeat to Aston Villa – it feels imperative that Coventry begin to establish the Coventry Building Society Arena as the fortress it has been in recent years. Newcastle United provide an interesting challenge, the Toon having started the campaign solidly despite a rough summer but with the data suggesting they’ve been fortunate to have the points on the board they have already.
As ever with any Premier League game this year, the Sky Blues start as underdogs, regardless.
Expected Line-Up
Frank Lampard opted for a counter-attacking style against Nottingham Forest which worked reasonably well but relied on the opposition missing some decent chances, a somewhat fortunate VAR call and a goal which came from a player who hadn’t scored in over three seasons to win the game. The Sky Blues will have to take the confidence from the result but know there is scope for improvement.
It is likely to be a team very close to the one that beat Nottingham Forest, but with two positions in focus – right wing-back and one of the three forward positions. Starting with the latter, Ephron Mason-Clark was substituted at half-time and may well make way for either Loum Tchaouna, who put in a decent second-half showing, Yann Gboho, who impressed for the Ivory Coast during the international break, or Ellis Simms, who’d add a penalty area presence to help attack a home game. It really could be any of the aforementioned four, with the final decision resting on how much Lampard wants to balance attack against defence.
At right wing-back, Milan van Ewijk could well be available for this game with the international break coming at a good time for the Dutchman to recover from a knock that kept him out of the last two matches. While Caleb Yirenkyi did okay at right wing-back in his stead, the Ghanaian was away on international duty, was a walking yellow card scare last time out, and offered little going forward – which is likely to be more of a concern heading into a home match.
Yirenkyi could be moved to his more comfortable central midfield berth but may more likely end up on the bench as part of an effort to keep a settled starting XI for the time being, with Matt Grimes and Frank Onyeka first-choice in the middle of the park.
Last Time We Met
Newcastle United and Coventry City last met back in 2010, with both teams in the Championship and on differing trajectories. The Toon were well on their way to promotion back to the top-flight, while Coventry began to circle the drain under Chris Coleman with the early optimism under SISU’s ownership almost already dead.
The Sky Blues took a shock lead when Clinton Morrison produced an improvised finish past Steve Harper. However, that was quickly levelled out with an excellent effort from Wayne Routledge beating Keiren Westwood.
Just after half-time, Andy Carroll (who a year prior had been close to joining Coventry, according to former Chairman, Ray Ranson) headed in at the back stick to kick off a procession to victory for Newcastle. Routledge won a penalty which saw Leon Barnett sent off for a second yellow card, converted by Peter Lovenkrands, with the Ryan Taylor finishing off the rout.
Key Questions
Are Newcastle United The Worst Team In The Premier League?
According to Opta, Newcastle United should be bottom of the Premier League, with 4 points, compared to Coventry City’s 4.6. So while Newcastle sit comfortably in mid-table, it is a position they are seemingly fortunate to be in.
Of course, to say Newcastle are the worst team in the division is an exaggeration. Their current Expected Points tally reflects that, despite a decent start in terms of actual points, they are still gelling as a team. That is no surprise given they lost their manager and several key players over the summer, with Matthias Jaissle arriving in the dugout along with a whole host of new, pretty inexperienced, signings.
On top of that, key players like Joelinton and Tino Livramento have been injured for most of the campaign, which has forced Jaissle to improvise with the starting line-up. The sense is that Newcastle can only really improve from this point and have the benefit of having points on the board to buy them time in order to do so.
Bolstered by the returns of almost all their injured players, expect a team coming to the CBS Arena to press and harry Coventry City, as per Matthias Jaissle’s style. The key concern is that if Coventry try and push up to force goals here, Newcastle have plenty of pace on the break to punish the Sky Blues’ ambitions of a positive result.
Can The Nottingham Forest Performance Be Repeated?
Having been caught out repeatedly over the opening weeks of the season when pushing forward, being dragged into stale spells of possession and getting caught on the break, Coventry City looked to have wised up last time out, sitting deep and playing forward more directly on their way to victory. It was a dogged performance but there are plenty of elements of it that may be difficult to reproduce.
Most notably, home fans at the CBS Arena are still accustomed to watching their team dominate and win games. It was apparent during the Brighton & Hove Albion home match during those early spells where the opposition dominated the ball and Coventry waited to counter-attack that the crowd can get antsy at not seeing their team chase the ball rabidly at every opportunity. Part of the challenge in this game is managing playing as underdogs in front of a home crowd.
Sitting deep should help nullify the frankly terrifying amount of pace Newcastle possess going forward and without a physical centre-forward to aim crosses at, Frank Lampard is likely to be content blocking the centre of the pitch and backing the likes of Bobby Thomas and Ethan Pinnock to head anything away.
Just how Coventry create chances is the bigger concern.
How To Create Chances?
Aside from the goal, Coventry City created little of note against Nottingham Forest and that could well be the biggest challenge towards picking up points regularly in this division. The Sky Blues are seemingly looking to move away from a possession and cross-heavy style towards threatening on the counter, but that fluidity looks some way off.
Having started off last time out with an ersatz front two of Brandon Thomas Asante and Ephron Mason-Clark, with Jack Rudoni supporting just behind, Frank Lampard switched to Thomas-Asante on his own, supported by Jack Rudoni on the left and Loum Tchaouna on the right. In the first-half, Coventry forced some half-chances through the pressing of the front three but looked tighter defensively with Rudoni and Tchaouna helping defend the wide areas.
Lampard might just be tempted to opt for two up front for this game, possibly with Ellis Simms replacing Ephron Mason-Clark to act as a penalty area presence. While that risks leaving the wide areas open to some very strong attacking full-back that Newcastle possess, it may well be a risk worth taking to provide some level of threat in a home game Coventry are going to be expected to play at least a little more front-footedly than the trip to Nottingham last time out.
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