Name of the game: League Cup

Venue: St. James' Park

Time: 2025/02/06 04:00

Teams: Newcastle United VS Arsenal

Win or lose prediction: Draw 38%

Score prediction: 1-1

Number of goals prediction: 2 goals

Personal analysis: Newcastle's ability to counterattack in the midfield and backcourt can be compared with Liverpool. Murphy, Isaac and Gordon on the front line are very suitable as counterattack points for advancement. They are all players with strong speed. Center forward Isaac has basically no shortcomings except for his weak physical confrontation ability. He has done a good job in breakthroughs and handling the ball. Murphy's ability to seize opportunities is slightly worse. After the return of midfielder Tonali, Newcastle's midfield defense is insufficient. His defensive area and role on the field are relatively large, which is more suitable for Newcastle's counterattack. The defensive line of Scher, Burn, and Hall are all players with good defensive ability and medium and long pass ability. Newcastle's entire team is built with counterattack as the tactical core. After Arsenal's forward line lost Saka, the breakthrough and cross play has been reduced a lot. Martinelli and Trossard are not so strong in breakthrough and passing ability. It is difficult to achieve one-on-one effect when facing Premier League-level full-backs. Havertz's role in the center position is also relatively limited. The combination of Odegaard and Rice in the midfield is relatively fixed. The combination of these two people, one defensive and the other offensive, is not bad. The others like Thomas and Merino are average on the field. Both of them have shortcomings in offense and defense. The team's defensive lineup is relatively fixed, especially Saliba and Gabriel, who both do well in tacit understanding and single defense ability. The right back Timber's starting position is relatively fixed. The left backs Skelly and Calafiori both have the opportunity to start, and both do well in offensive ability.

Newcastle is a team with strong breakthrough and counterattack speed on the wing, while Arsenal is more adapted to the offensive mode in positional warfare, but it is difficult to score goals against strong defensive teams in many games. This has a lot to do with the lack of strong offensive ability on the front line. This is also the reason why Arsenal has always focused on corner kick tactics, and Newcastle's defensive and counterattack capabilities are relatively good. It is difficult for Arsenal to beat Newcastle away in the second game. In this game, Newcastle's home concede of 0.25 goals is normal. Arsenal's big win over Manchester City in the last round was due to a certain amount of luck. From the data of this game, we can see that the institutions did not give too much support to Arsenal. Lao Li believes that Newcastle has a higher chance of remaining unbeaten at home in this game, and recommends Newcastle +0.25 win option, with the score expected to be 1-1 or 2-1.