Premier League preview: Birmingham v Newcastle

Newcastle United gave sacked manager Chris Hughton a farewell to remember against Liverpool; now they look to Birmingham City on Saturday.

Newcastle earned some catharsis against the hapless Reds in the wake of Hughton’s shock axing last week, overrunning them with a passionate display clearly borne of frustration at the sudden departure of their popular manager.

Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll all found the net at St James’ Park, marking the fifth time this season the Magpies have put more than one goal on the scoresheet.

It was an altogether dominant performance by Newcastle, but they now have to move on with the business of life in the Premier League.

Next up is a visit to St Andrew’s and Alex McLeish’s Birmingham, who slumped to 16th on the table following their 1-0 defeat at Wolverhampton.

The Magpies, meanwhile, are up to eighth, equal on points with the ninth, 10th and 11th-placed sides.

New boss Alan Pardew will face something of a baptism of fire after Christmas, when Newcastle host Manchester City and travel to White Hart Lane to play Tottenham in the space of two days.

With such a difficult back-to-back run coming up, the worst thing the Toon can do now is surrender a gettable three points at Birmingham.

The Blues have struggled mightily to put together wins this season, and were it not for a fortuitous visit from an out-of-form Chelsea McLeish’s side would have little to show for their past month.

The loss to Wolves on Sunday was particularly jarring for Birmingham, who had previously not lost to their West Midlands rivals since 2001.

Birmingham have an arguably worse time of it after Christmas, with a trip to Everton followed closely by visits from Manchester United and Arsenal.

With a valuable three points on the line McLeish has tipped his charges to make amends against Liverpool.

“I saw Wolves beat Manchester City (at Molineux), and they’re second in the League – it shows any team can beat anybody in this Premier League, and there’s no reason why we can’t beat the teams who are coming up,” McLeish said.

“It will be a very difficult December going into January. It’s tough, but that’s the challenge of the League and we’re delighted to be here. We’ll be up for the challenge, no doubt about it.”

“A few weeks ago we went into a period of games – Manchester City away, Chelsea home, Fulham away, Spurs home – and the media had us down for nothing out of 12, and we ended up with six points.”

“That’s an amazing return for a team who were tipped to get nothing.”

“There’s no reason why we can’t do that again – we’ve already proved it, the evidence is there.”

“I’ve got a dressing room who will be hurting by the way they played in the first 60 minutes (against Wolves) and I’m sure they will want to atone for that as they’ve done many times in the past.”

Looking to personnel, Pardew may welcome back one or both of Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini, who return from suspension.

The defenders could be used to rest the ailing Steven Taylor and Sol Campbell, who have soldiered on in central defence despite niggling ailments.

Goalkeeper Steve Harper is also pushing for a first-team recall after recovering from a shoulder injury suffered at Everton three months earlier, while midfielder Danny Guthrie may return after watching Newcastle’s win over Liverpool from the bench.

McLeish has no fresh injury concerns at Birmingham, with on-loan Barcelona midfielder Alexander Hleb and striker James McFadden his only absentees.