Why Joelinton has to start today against Manchester United | OneFootball

Joelinton is back.

Although to put it more accurately, the 26 year old is now back available for Eddie Howe.

Will Joelinton walk straight back into this Newcastle United team after seeing out his two game suspension?

In total, the midfielder has missed three Premier League games due to suspension. Newcastle winning 4-0 against Aston Villa, 2-1 at home to Wolves, victorious 2-1 at Forest, all in his absence.

Indeed, in the two PL matches when Eddie Howe named Joelinton on the bench this season, Newcastle won 5-1 at home to Brentford and 4-1 at Fulham.

To an outsider, I’m guessing there would appear to be no desperate need to bring Big Joe straight back in.

Personally, whilst I don’t see it as a ‘desperate need’ for Eddie Howe to name Joelinton in his starting eleven this afternoon, I absolutely think he will.

I think Joelinton has to start because this is a massive match and his presence in the team will help give Newcastle United their best chance of getting the three points.

On Friday, this is what Eddie Howe had to say about Joelinton at the pre-Man U press conference:

“Joe is a huge presence.

“Not just physically.

“I think the other lads know how good a player he is, so to have him back amongst the squad is a boost for us.

“The other players, in his absence, have performed very well, so it’s great to have competition.”

Ahead of today’s match, Newcastle United have helpfully published these Joelinton highlights from his performance against Man U in the December 2021 1-1 draw at St James’ Park:

My view is that today, the absence of Casemiro has absolutely helped hand Newcastle United the opportunity of winning the battle in the middle of the pitch.

Manchester United are likely to play Fred and either Sabitzer or McTominay in their midfield in Casemiro’s absence. Against Fulham in the FA Cup in their latest match, with the Brazilian (Casemiro) suspended it was actually McTominay and Sabitzer as holding midfielders, with Rashford, Sancho and Bruno Fernandes in front of them, Weghorst the centre-forward. Fulham absolutely dominated the midfield and indeed the match, leading 1-0 at Old Trafford and absolutely bossing it, until that crazy moment with less than 20 minutes to go, that saw Mitro, Willian and manager Silva red carded.

If Fulham can do that, boss the midfield at Old Trafford, then no reason why Newcastle United can’t. Fred came on as a late sub in that match and likely to play today, but whilst I don’t think he is a bad player, I don’t see why he would be expected to make a massive difference.

I think that if Eddie Howe plays his Brazilian duo along with the likes of Willock and Longstaff, that will give, in my opinion, the perfect platform for Newcastle United to win the midfield battle and go on to win the match.

Joelinton has had a nice unplanned rest, now is the moment for him to come back in and do what we know he is capable of, helping to take Newcastle United into third place later today.