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Wickham was injured. Exactly what happened to Graham last week is still a mystery to me but it seems likely he'll feature today. I have to say that Newcastle have a number of players that I'd like to see in our side and the advantage has got to be with them today so I'm not feeling at all optimistic. With us notoriously running out of puff as the games progress and Cisse being something of a very late goalscorer, I'll have one eye on the clock as the dying minutes tick away. We all know that the form-book goes out the window on such occasions but there's more than a good chance that there'll be a red card and I'd be surprised if there's not a headline or two about Pardew and Di Canio. I'm off to my local pub to watch it in an atmosphere of neutrality. Match prediction: 1-1.
The Game
Midday came and went as I stood alone outside my local with no sign of it opening. There was no trace of life through the windows and I noticed that there was a rugby match on the telly so I cut my losses and raced home. The game was on Talk Radio and I'd missed the first eight minutes but it sounded like we'd made a bright start with Graham winning a lot of plaudits. Wickham was indeed injured and both Cuellar and McClean had started. Micky Gray was assisting the commentary and he said that Johnson was playing too far inside and should be playing wider and getting some chalk on his boots. By the midway point we were having the better of it with Rose being outstanding and the home crowd were getting edgy. Gouffran got the first
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