Newcastle United will be without striker Loic Remy when they visit Stoke City at Britannia Stadium on Saturday, according to Lee Ryder of The Chronicle. It was thought that Remy may return this week after missing the last five with a calf injury suffered while on international duty, but he underwent a scan earlier this week and has been ruled out. How important is Remy to Newcastle's hopes of playing a competitive match? Here's what they've done without him over the last several months:
Opponent | Goals Scored |
Sunderland | 0 |
Chelsea | 0 |
Tottenham Hotspur | 0 |
Fulham | 0 |
Crystal Palace | 1 |
Everton | 0 |
Southampton | 0 |
Manchester United | 0 |
That's right - only Papiss Cisse's 90th minute tally against Crystal Palace prevented the shutout here. Alan Pardew will now presumably choose his front line from Shola Ameobi, Cisse, and Luuk de Jong, none of which are serious threats to score at this point. The Chronicle article makes no mention of Adam Armstrong, because why would Newcastle want to see what they have in the young forward before trying to fix this debacle in the transfer window? That wouldn't make sense, would it?
Pardew is apparently hopeful that Tim Krul will return to goal, saying the Dutchman "has a chance of playing." Perhaps the manager wants to play him behind his suspect defense in order to ward off possible suitors like Juventus, who have reportedly inquired about his services. (The Express)