5 Tips for Tuesday Night’s Action - 30/11/21

On Tuesday night Newcastle United take on Norwich City at St James’ Park in a battle of 20th versus 19th, with the hosts being the only side not to have won a Premier League game this season.

The Magpies have shown some improvement in recent weeks, earning three draws in their last five outings have done so against Newcastle United 1-1, Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 and Brentford 3-3 in their last home game following goals by Jamaal Lascelles, Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximin. The Toon’s two losses in this run were both against tough opponents in Arsenal and Chelsea, but, surely if there’s a chance to end their winless run, then Eddie Howe will be hoping it will be on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, there have been vast improvements at Norwich in recent weeks as the Canaries have managed seven points in their last three matches, following a 2-1 victory at Brentford in what was Daniel Farke’s last game as manager of the club, before then winning via the same scoreline in Dean Smith’s first fixture at home to Southampton, last time out the Canaries earned a valuable point at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and will arrive at St James’ Park in good confidence.

Leeds United and Crystal Palace go head to head on Tuesday night at Elland Road in what will be a closely fought match between 17th and 11th in the Premier League table.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side currently sit just three points above the relegation zone on 12 points from 13 matches, whilst Palace are just four points better off having played the same number of games.

A player that he will be looking towards for inspiration is former Stade Rennes man Raphinha, as the 24-year-old Brazilian international has scored five goals in 11 matches for the Whites this season and is priced at 12/1 to score from outside the box here.

In Serie A, Atalanta host Venezia at the Gewiss Stadium with the home side coming in as firm favourites in this match.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s men are fourth in the table on 28 points, whilst Venezia have just 15 coming into this match.

Despite being known as an attacking outfit, Atalanta have scored 28 goals and conceded 17 across their 14 league matches, and have won two of their last four matches by 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 scorelines, having beaten Juventus 1-0 last time out via a Duvan Zapata goal, as well as beating Cagliari 2-1 in early November.

Meanwhile, Venezia have tended to have respectable scores in recent weeks, as they were beaten 2-0 by Inter Milan, but also beat Bologna and AS Roma 1-0 and 3-2 after drawing 0-0 with Genoa and losing 2-1 to Salernitana 2-1.

Massimiliano Allegri will be hoping to see Juventus bounce back from another league defeat at the weekend when they take on bottom of the table Salernitana on Tuesday.

Juve are currently seventh in the table following a 1-0 home defeat to Atalanta last time out on the back of a 4-0 loss to Chelsea in the Champions League. Prior to these matches, Allegri had overseen his side beating Lazio 2-0, Fiorentina 1-0 and Zenit St Petersburg 4-2.

On the other hand, the hosts have the worst defence in the division, as they have conceded 29 goals in 14 games and have accumulated just eight points.

In the FA Cup, Exeter City and Bradford City face each other for a third time in the competition, following a second replay due to the Grecians using too many subs in the initial replay of this tie.

In the initial match at Valley Parade, the match finished 1-1 as Theo Robinson’s 28th-minute opener was cancelled out with just four minutes to go by a Sam Nombe goal, forcing a replay at St James’ Park, which resulted in a 3-0 win for Exeter, however, having used an extra substitute in extra-time, a rule which was abolished for the 2021/22 season, the game was nulled, hence why these two sides are meeting for a third time in this campaign’s competition.

At present in the League Two standings, Matt Taylor’s side are third in the standings with 33 points from 19 matches, scoring 31 and conceding 21, whilst the Bantams are 12th, having found the back of the net 25 times and let in 23.