Newcastle preview

Well, the good news is that, after what seems to have been an age, la Bestia (hamstring) and Freddie (bit of cheese) are in the squad to face Newcastle tomorrow, following their recoveries from their respective injuries. Mad mad Jens is also fit having shaken off the heavy cold which saw him miss the 3-0 win over the Bindippers and Germany's midweek Euro 2008 qualifier against Cyprus.

The bad news is, following his departure from the Brazillian squad for "personal reasons", Gilbert O'Silva is not in the squad for tomorrow's game. Any real information on what's going on in the world of everyone's favourite Brazillian Irishman is very sparse, and I can only assume that something's happened to a member of his family, something he doesn't want the world and his brother to know about.

With Newcastle struggling for any sort of form at all, and us coming off a big morale-boosting win against Liverpool (the stupid International friendly break notwithstanding) I'd like to see something like this.

More than anyone in our squad, Fabregas needs a breather. He has so far played every minute of every game (excepting the League Cup) and, against the shambles that is the Newcastle defence, I should think we can afford to be without his creative nous. With Gilberto out and Denilson not in the squad for some reason, I'd like to see Flamini given the opportunity I feel he's earnt after the Liverpool game, and I'm desperate to see la Bestia in action. It's also a combatative central midfield pairing that I can see knocking lumps out of Scott Parker, which is nice.

With Tomas and YTW both injured, and the fact that I want to see a 4-4-2, it's a simple pick of Hleb and Freddie in the wide positions, with RvP and TH14 up front.

The back five picks itself, but following a full 90 minutes midweek for France, Gallas could see himself rested for Big Phil or Johann.

Speaking of which, Arsene has been speaking out on what a massive cunt Raymond Domenech is for playing Thierry and Willy for the full 90 minutes midweek, whilst only playing Makelele, Evra, Saha and other Premiership players for 45 minutes. I have to be honest and say that I detest practically everything about this Paul O'Grady lookalike, and I hope Arsene gave him a good slap from me.

Rotund Hungary and Real Madrid phenomenon Ferenc Puskas has died. A true legend.

Anything less than three points tomorrow will be a huge disappointment. Come on you Reds.