Toon Time

 

Newcastle v WBA
Premier League
5.30pm, SKY SPORTS

POSSIBLE 4th SPOT AWAITS TOON

Two surprise teams for me this season so far.

Southampton and Newcastle. Both way ahead of their pre-season handicap marks and refreshing to see both clubs playing good football.

Newcastle have the chance to go fourth this weekend if they can get all three points against WBA (and other results go there way) which is pretty remarkable given their season started with a 4-0 draw against Man City followed swiftly with a drab 0-0 draw against West Ham.

Things have been going much better since then though and they bid to end November as the only Premier League side with a complete set of wins.

This is a fixture that usually produces plenty of action:

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD
(Max last 10 only)
Apr 2013 Premier West Brom 1-1 Newcastle
Oct 2012 Premier Newcastle 2-1 West Brom
Mar 2012 Premier West Brom 1-3 Newcastle
Dec 2011 Premier Newcastle 2-3 West Brom
May 2011 Premier Newcastle 3-3 West Brom
Dec 2010 Premier West Brom 3-1 Newcastle
Jan 2010 FA Cup West Brom 4-2 Newcastle
Jan 2010 Championship Newcastle 2-2 West Brom
Aug 2009 Championship West Brom 1-1 Newcastle
Feb 2009 Premier West Brom 2-3 Newcastle

The Baggies have won just one of seven Premier League games away to Newcastle (W1, D2, L4) and come here on the back of a 2-2 draw against neighbours Aston Villa on Monday which must have felt like a loss given they were cruising and 2-0 up.

To add to the problems West Brom head coach Steve Clarke says he has “lots” of minor injury doubts.

Only one way I can see this going and that’s to the Toon. Happy to back them on the handicap giving up a goal.

STAR FORECAST
(stake between 0.5 and 10 points)
10 points NEWCASTLE (-1) at around 5/2

IN BITS

A man who threw away a computer hard drive containing more than £4m of the digital currency Bitcoin has told Sky News he is devastated.

James Howells, 28, binned the hard drive in the summer, but only realised his mistake last Friday.

The IT worker threw away his Dell laptop after it started to overheat, forgetting that it contained a digital wallet containing 7,500 units of the virtual currency.

Staff at the Docksway landfill site in Newport, South Wales, where the hard drive was taken, have told Mr Howells that by now it will be buried under at least three feet of waste in an area the size of a football pitch.