Sky Sports expert’s verdict – Interesting change as Newcastle United don’t even get a mention… | OneFootball

The Sky Sports column ‘Jones Knows’ has given some excellent analysis and commentary on Newcastle United in recent months.

The column makes predictions on what will happen at certain Premier League matches and also debates other matters / issues at clubs as well.

However, unlike the usual ex-pro predictions, that are usually simply based on how ‘big’ a club is and whether or not they won the previous game, this one has proper analysis and insight, not lazy assumptions.

The Sky Sports ‘Jones Knows’ column looks at the matches from a betting perspective and has been concentrating on Newcastle’s game against Burnley on this occasion.

Lewis Jones (who is the Sky Sports expert behind the ‘Jones Knows’ column) has highlighted some major underlying factors that could / should have a big bearing on this Burnley v Newcastle game.

However, on this occasion a bit of a change of tack by the Sky Sports man, as he doesn’t even give Newcastle United a mention…

Apart from coming to the conclusion that Newcastle United will lose to Burnley.

“On what they have shown for large parts of this season Burnley deserve to go down.

“If you looked at the table every day between October 1 and April 22, you’d have seen Burnley in the bottom three.

“But here they are, peaking at the right time and they will avoid relegation if they match Leeds’ result.

“And I think deep down these Burnley players know they are going to survive.

“That is the feeling I’ve got from watching them in the past few weeks. There is no tension in their play. No signs of panic. And even plenty of smiles on faces.

“It’s that mentality that makes me believe they will get the result on Sunday.

“When they need to defend, they defend.

“And the big difference since Mike Jackson has taken over is their ability to create chances when the chips are down. Their expected goals data has rocketed from 1.1 per 90 minutes under Sean Dyche this season to 1.8 under Jackson.

“Home win it is.

“Score prediction – Burnley 1 Newcastle 0.”

A bit of a strange one really.

I can totally understand Lewis Jones concentrating mainly on Burnley, as they are the ones who desperately need a result today to try and ensure they don’t fall through the relegation trapdoor.

However, to totally ignore Newcastle United’s form and likely ability (or not) to get a result this afternoon, is bizarre.

Especially when the Sky Sports man bases his predictions on form and interesting pointers, with of course those of both teams needing to be taken into consideration.

He talks of Burnley ‘peaking at the right time’ but they have only picked up one point from the last possible nine.

I think it will be a competitive game and I don’t think Newcastle United are certain winners…BUT you simply can’t ignore surely the NUFC relevant stats / form, not least the fact that despite nothing really to play for, Eddie Howe’s players produced their best performance of the season against Arsenal on Monday.

The Sky Sports pundit goes for a 1-0 home win today but only four times in over five months in the Premier League have Newcastle failed to score and three of the four were against the trio at the very top of the table.

Not forgetting either that NUFC have won ten of their last sixteen matches and only lost five of them, with four of the five against the current top four in the table.

Newcastle have also kept four clean sheets in their last seven games and Eddie Howe looks to have gone for his strongest possible team, Kieran Trippier coming back in and the only other change from Monday is Lascelles in for Schar, the Switzerland international having had to miss most of training this week after forced off against Arsenal with suspected concussion.

Anyway, good luck to both Burnley and Leeds in their survival hopes, I don’t really care who stays up / goes down, I just would love to see Newcastle finish on a high, Eddie Howe and his players deserve it.