Town boss Roy Keane hailed Newcastle United as worthy champions ahead of the Blues’ visit to St James’ Park on Saturday. The Magpies will be looking to go through the entire season without losing a game at home.
Keane says he is looking for a significant improvement on the 4-0 home defeat to Chris Hughton’s side back in September: "They’re worthy champions, but hopefully there won’t be the same scoreline as we had earlier in the season. As strong as Newcastle were on the night, I thought we were particularly poor as well.
"The players responded well to disappointment than night, but the signs were there how strong Newcastle were and how far we had to go.
"Our home record has been decent, but it’s away from home where we’ve not picked up enough results. Newcastle haven’t been beaten at home all season and I’m sure they’ll want to end the season in front of their home fans with a good victory.”
The Blues boss is unsurprisingly expecting a very difficult match: "We know it’s going to be very, very tough. If you look at their last few games, they’re very, very strong.
"It’s no surprise that they have won the league because it’s a simple fact that they have the best players and physically they are a big, strong team. The experience they have in their team should not be underestimated.”
Keane will use the game to assess how far his team have moved on since that early season loss: "You’re always gauging the progress you’re making when you play against the teams near the top, whether it’s West Brom, Forest, Cardiff or whoever it might be.
"On our day we have competed well with these teams, particularly at home, but like Forest a couple of weeks ago, we came up short. So, we’ve got be careful that we don’t go out too gung-ho, as much as we want to get a positive result.”
The Town manager is clear where the Blues’ season went wrong: "People keep asking me why we have so many draws and I would answer that I think that it’s that we’re not bad enough to be beaten and we’ve not been good enough to win enough matches, as simple as that.
"We’ve not scored enough goals. Again, another draw last week and even when we went a goal in front you just couldn’t see us killing the game off. We didn’t have anybody on the pitch or on the bench who had enough quality to kill the game off.
"As we know, in any game 1-0 is a dangerous score to have and we’ve been punished far too many times and that has to be looked at. You can’t be unlucky every week. We have to get a bit more streetwise, shall we say. When we’re a goal up like last weekend, we need to shut up shop.
"Even on your bad days you take your 1-0 victories. A lot of the teams at the top, I’ve watched them, they win their games 1-0 without playing particularly well and we have to learn to do that next year; try and win our games even on our off-days.”
Keane is unlikely to make too many changes to the side which drew with Doncaster last week. Brian Murphy will continue in goal with Shane O’Connor unlikely to lose his place at left-back despite conceding Doncaster’s controversial penalty a week ago.
David Wright appears to have re-established himself at right-back with Tommy Smith continuing to deputise for Damien Delaney — out for the rest of the season with ankle ligament damage - at centre-half alongside Gareth McAuley.
In midfield, Keane is unlikely to start with anyone other than David Norris and Grant Leadbitter in the centre and skipper Jon Walters on the right.
Jack Colback will be on the left if Town continue with a midfield four with the Sunderland loanee likely to switch to the centre if the Blues move to five across the middle as they did at Swansea. If that’s the case, Lee Martin or perhaps Jaime Peters could come in as the additional midfielder on one flank with Walters on the other.
Keane has already ruled Carlos Edwards out as he’s not yet ready for a return after his chicken pox, while striker David Healy expects to be out for the rest of the season with his knee injury.
Connor Wickham will start up front alongside Daryl Murphy if the Blues play 4-4-2 and will probably get the nod ahead of the Irishman if Keane decides to go with just the one striker.
The Blues boss is again likely to include a number of youngsters on the bench, midfielder Billy Clark getting a brief debut last week. Central defenders Tom Eastman and Troy Brown and midfielder Luke Hyam will probably be in Keane’s travelling 18.
Newcastle boss Chris Hughton says his side's victory at Portman Road was an important milestone in their season, coming as it did on a day when both clubs paid tribute to Sir Bobby Robson: "We knew that it would be an emotional day and that the game could have swung either way.
"It proved to be a very memorable day for ourselves for a number of reasons, not least the result.
"It was a big win for us because it put us back on top of the table and was a pivotal moment in our season. I remember we started very well and scored three times within a five-minute period.
"It was great for Kevin Nolan to get his hat-trick as well and that rounded off what was a very special day.
"I think Sir Bobby would have enjoyed that game and we hope we're able to put on another performance on Saturday to finish our home season with another win.
"Saturday promises to be another wonderful occasion and one we're all very much looking forward to.
"We'll have a sell-out crowd and we're hoping to sign off from a magnificent home campaign with another victory."
Hughton hopes to be able to call on Jonas Gutierrez and Fabricio Coloccini after thigh and hamstring injuries respectively, but Fitz Hall is definitely out with a hamstring problem. Defender Steven Taylor is closing in on a return after a knee ligament injury.
The teams are well balanced historically, the Blues winning 16 times (14 in the league), drawing on 14 (12) occasions and running out losers in 16 (15) meetings between the sides.
Earlier in the season, a Kevin Nolan hat-trick and a freekick from Ryan Taylor condemned Town to a 4-0 home defeat on the day the North Stand was rechristened the Sir Bobby Robson Stand in honour of the clubs’ former manager.
Robson was the manager of Newcastle the last time the sides met at St James’ Park, Marcus Bent scoring twice for the Blues in a 2-2 draw in the Premier League in March 2002. Laurent Robert, who almost joined Town in the 2007/08 season, and Alan Shearer, who also missed a penalty, netted for the home team.
Shola Ameobi came close to joining the Blues in the summer of 2008 but the move broke down after he failed a medical due to a hamstring injury and no member of the current Town squad has been a Newcastle player.
Jack Colback is from the city and had a trial with his local club as a schoolboy before joining Sunderland, the club from whom he is currently on loan, along with Daryl Murphy and David Healy.
The current Town ranks include several former Sunderland players, in addition to boss Roy Keane, first team coach Tony Loughlan and fitness coach Antonio Gomez who were all on the management staff at the Stadium of Light. Carlos Edwards, Grant Leadbitter, Jon Stead, Colin Healy and Alan Quinn (loan) have all played for the Magpies’ greatest rivals.
Newcastle right-back Danny Simpson spent time on loan with the Blues during 2007/08.
Prior to the game, which is expected to set an attendance record for the Championship of more than 52,000, Sir Bobby Robson’s sons will thank both clubs and their fans for their support of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and will meet with Mick Mills, who has been named Suffolk’s patron of the charity.
After the match, Roy Keane’s former Manchester United team-mate Nicky Butt will receive the Championship trophy, perhaps after playing the penultimate game of his career, the Magpies having secured the title with their victory at Plymouth on Monday.
Saturday’s referee will be Carl Boyeson from East Yorkshire, who has shown 63 yellow cards and five red in 31 games so far this season. Boyeson’s last Town match was the 2-1 win at Barnsley last season in which he kept his cards in his pocket throughout.
Squad from: B Murphy, R Wright, Lee-Barrett, D Wright, Rosenior, O’Connor, McAuley, Smith, Eastman, Brown, Norris, Leadbitter, Colback, Walters, Peters, Martin, Garvan, Clark, Hyam, Wickham, D Murphy, Couñago.