Newcastle Shirt Reading Shirt Newcastle return to Premiership action tonight when they go head to head for the first time in the Premiership with Reading. The Magpies are looking to extend their unbeaten record to 7 games in all competitions with their last defeat coming at St James Park against Sheffield United early last month.

Currently sitting in the relegation zone in 18th position with 13 points from a possible 42, Glenn Roeder’s job is on the line and he must turn things around. A win against the Royals could see Newcastle rise to as high as 14th place on goal difference. However defeat would anger fans and make relegation a more realistic possibility.

SQUADS:
Newcastle: Given, Srnicek, Carr, Solano, Taylor, Ramage, Huntington, Babayaro, Butt, Emre, N’Zogbia, Milner, Pattison, Troisi, Gate, Edgar, Martins, Sibierski, Luque, Rossi, Carroll.

Reading: Hahnemann, Murty, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Shorey, Oster, Sidwell, Harper, Hunt, Seol, Doyle, Lita, Bikey, Gunnarsson, de la Cruz, Little, Long.

INJURY NEWS:
Kieron Dyer Newcastle will be without Kieron Dyer for the game against Reading after the injury-prone midfielder picked up a thigh injury in a horrific collision with an advertising board against Portsmouth. Titus Bramble definitely sits out which adds to Roeder’s ever-growing injury list which now consists of Owen, Ameobi, Krul, Bernard, Moore, Duff, Parker and Harper.

For Reading, Stephen Hunt is expected to feature despite suffering from two cracked ribs and Glenn Little has recovered from a hamstring problem but will not oust John Ouster from his place in the side.

VIEWS ABOUT THE GAME:
Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder:

Glenn Roeder “Win tonight and we can climb four places up the Premiership table. All our games are huge now, but this one is absolutely massive.

“We have been in good form lately, but the Premiership table does not lie and we know that we have got to start moving up it, because until we do our progress in the UEFA and Carling Cups will not mean a thing.

“We are not really concerned about what other clubs do, but the results last night give us the chance to move four places up the table.

“What we need to do is start where we left off against Portsmouth.

Newcastle winger Nolberto Solano:

Nolberto Solano “It’s going to be tough for us, we have to win this one and we have to start concentrating on the Premier League after doing so well in Europe.

“Reading have done so well this season, we’ve had a rest and this is our chance to kick-start things.

“They did well to get up last year and the first thoughts for teams that get promoted usually is survival.

“But they have taken a lot of points already and are where we’d like to be. It is tough in your first season but this is also tough for us. But we have to focus on the task in hand now.”

PREDICTED LINEUP:
Given

Solano
Ramage
Taylor
Babayaro

Milner
Emre
Butt
N’Zogbia

Martins
Sibierski

HEAD 2 HEAD:
Played: 6
Newcastle Win: 4
Draw: 1
Reading Win: 1

ALL OF THE RESULTS:
FA Cup: Newcastle United 4-1 Reading
FA Cup: Reading 3-3 Newcastle
League Cup: Newcastle United 4-0 Reading
League Cup: Reading 3-1 Newcastle
FA Cup: Newcastle United 4-0 Reading
FA Cup: Newcastle United 2-1 Reading

PREDICTION:
I’m going to go with a Newcastle 2-1 win over Reading to take the Magpies up to 14th place. Martins and Sibierski will be the scorers.

What about you? We want to know what the score will be and who will score. Write in with your comments below!