OPINION
Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend is more than capable of making it a miserable day at the office for Rafa Benitez on Saturday when Newcastle United face Roy Hodgson’s side.
The 27-year-old winger is a fabulous attacking talent when he is firing on all cylinders and if at his best then he will be too much for the Magpies’ defence to handle.
Townsend may not have registered an assist or scored a goal in his first five league outings of the season, but has all the tools to do so and the motivation of playing one of his former side’s might bring him to life.
A lot will be said about the threat of Towsend’s highly-gifted teammate Wilfried Zaha, who is a creative enigma at the top of his game, but Benitez must beware of the English winger’s potential to do his side damage.
The Magpies are feeling a little low at the moment after failing to win any of their first five league games of the season, partly due to facing the Premier League’s more powerful sides, and are there for the taking.
While the Magpies would be wounded by suffering another disappointing result on Saturday at the hands of Palace, who are potentially beatable, Townsend has all the tools to pour additional salt into the wounds if he plays a noticeable part in his side getting a victory.
Not only was the winger once on the brink of being a favourite at St James Park after trying his best to save the club from relegation by putting in some fantastic performances during his 13 outings for the club, but the Magpies didn’t successfully sign him this summer.
The Sun reported in the summer that the Magpies were in talks with Palace over signing their former star for £18million but they ended up being unsuccessful with their pursuit as Townsend in an interview with Sky Sports committed himself to the London club.
Given that the Magpies could have likely welcomed the 27-year-old trickster to St James Park if Mike Ashley had splash the cash, fans will be particularly hurt if he shows them everything they’re missing out on Saturday.
Therefore this all means that Townsend has all the tools to pour salt in the Magpies’ wounds when featuring for Palace on Saturday and Benitez must beware of his talents if he doesn’t want to suffer an extra painful defeat.
