Soccer / bielsa

Steve Bruce's Newcastle United head to Elland Road on Wednesday night to face Leeds United in the 6pm kick-off looking to make it a hat-trick of Premier League wins after back-to-back victories against Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion boosted by the news that attacking maestro Ryan Fraser is fit and raring to go and defensive dynamo Fede Ferdnandez is back following a bout of Corona Virus. Bruce told a pre-match press conference that "I'm going to make changes" with a hectic schedule of three games in seven days coming up for the club including an all-important Carabao Cup Quarter-Final on December 22nd after three Premier League games in a week. "We're going to have to monitor it and approach it in the right way. The response from the players to get the win on Saturday was terrific. The first time we trained was on Wednesday so their attitude was there for everyone to see." "We've all been impressed with Leeds and Fulham now look like a different outfit to what they were. They're difficult games but we have given ourselves a good platform going into a busy period. We've started well so let's hope we can do the same again." Newcastle go into the game on the back of that heroic 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion in the adversity of a Covid-19 outbreak that depleted the squad, thanks to goals from Miguel Almiron & Dwight Gayle & a Man of the Match display from Isaac Hayden. Hayden rose from 10 days in bed with Corona Virus for three training sessions before playing 96 minutes in a unfamiliar centre half role in which he excelled, typifying the spirit and beyond the call of duty professionalism and courage of The Magpies squad that never knows when it is beaten on or off the pitch. That super-sub Gayle's superb header from the cross of other super-sub Jacob Murphy arrived in the 82nd minute should have came as no surprise to anyone as Newcastle have scored a whopping 57% of our goals in the top flight this season in the last 15 minutes of games - a Premier League high total (via Lee Ryder of The Chronicle): That 57% figure is also bizarrely the same All Competition Win Percentage of Bruce's squad this year if you count beating Newport on penalties as a Win not a Draw and in The Premier League alone, five wins from 11 games means a win % of 46% and the best start to a top flight season by any Newcastle United manager since Alan Pardew: After dispatching West Brom, Newcastle face the other two promoted Championship clubs in quick succession - Leeds on Wednesday & Fulham on Saturday at 8pm in a game in which fans may be allowed back in St. James' Park should Boris Johnson lift Newcastle from Tier 3 restrictions into Tier 2 which allows 2000 football supporters in stadium for live matches, a privilege that was being enjoyed in London although that is set to abruptly change as London heads into Tier 3: Marcelo Bielsa-led Leeds, who were promoted on the crest of a wave of hype about their popular if controversial manager who is in the running for FIFA Best Men's Coach Award for 2020, are finding life tough back in the highest echelon of the English game and have lost three of their last five Premier League games and are as inconsistent as they are attacking and find themselves three points below Newcastle in 14th position, who have a game in hand. They are winless at Elland Road in their last five home games and have only beaten newly-promoted Fulham in their famous stadium without the help of the 35,000 fanatical fans who would normally be there and Bielsa was on the defensive in his presser more than his teams are on the pitch as he confirmed top scorer Patrick Bamford IS fit & why Leeds have been vulnerable from set-pieces. Ask whether Leeds would be dragged into a relegation battle he said: "It is very difficult to talk about the future and to predict it . The reality that we are going through at this moment to have only picked up 4 points from the last 18 is a negative cycle that of course generates consequences. But this negative cycle that we are going through is similar to half of the other teams in the Premier League who have gone through a similar cycle. Wer now that every time we play the difficulties are very high and we try to work through that so that we can pick up as many points as possible." Meanwhile Steve Bruce has the momentum of back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time this season and will be looking to make that three in a row on Wednesday night equipped with an "array of attacking players" including Ryan Fraser, a confident Joelinton, Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and Dwight Gayle but remains on his guard against BielsaBall & the tactical innovations of his opposite number: Newcastle United and Leeds have a great history of Northern derbies and its always a special encounter between the sides even if games between the two teams aren't as charged as Newcastle's traditional local derby with Sunderland who are now in League One and Leeds' rivalry with neighbours from Sheffield or Man Utd across the Pennines. Last time the sides met was in The Championship in The Magpies' 2016/7 title-winning season under Rafa Benitez, a season which is the subject of new hit fans' film, 'We Are The Geordies' which had its world premier in aid of the NUFC Fans' FoodBank on Friday night which is available on DVD and on Amazon Prime now: Newcastle were denied victory in a 1-1 draw by a Chris Wood goal in the 95th minute of a hostile encounter fuelled by Bank Holiday drinking & a pitch invader although Newcastle won comfortably 2-0 away at Elland Road thanks to a Dwight Gayle brace to stay top of the League. While almost exactly twenty years ago in December 2001, Peruvian Nobby Solano scored the 7th and winning goal in a 4-3 thriller at Elland Road to keep Geordie fans in dreamland at the top of The Premier League under Sir Bobby Robson, a position they had soared to 4 days earlier at Arsenal with Uri Geller helping break The London Curse! Steve Bruce will be hoping he can go toe-to-toe with Bielsa, one of the arch-attacking coaches of the modern game and come out victorious and be one step closer to a memorable five game winning run that would make every Geordie happy this Christmas. Prediction - Newcastle United 3 Leeds 2