Paul Merson has predicted Newcastle United’s clash with Burnley to end as a 1-1 draw when the two sides meet on Monday.
The Clarets are set to host the Magpies at Turf Moor and the Sky Sports pundit proceeded to heap praise on attacker Salomon Rondon when looking ahead to the match.
Merson suggested that the Venezuelan was exactly what Rafa Benitez’s side had been lacking in previous games and compared him to Magpies legend Malcolm Macdonald or Alan Shearer when drooling over his goal against Bournemouth in his last outing.
“This is a big match,” wrote the pundit in his predictions for Sky Sports.
“Newcastle have done great to win back-to-back games in the Premier League, which is a hard thing to do for the teams in the bottom half, and you then help yourselves by moving away from trouble.
“Sean Dyche would take a 1-0 win here and he would be more than delighted with that as he would know his team will be hard to beat again.
“I think teams at the bottom get in this cycle where they always think they must win their next game, then they get beat again and it is relentless, the Premier League, game after game.
“But I think Newcastle will get something out of this game and if somebody said to me, ‘get off the fence,’ then I would go for Newcastle.
“They have the momentum and they have not been a million miles away, the penny has dropped and he has put Salomon Rondon in – they needed a focal point, they were too weak, the ball was bouncing back too quick off Joselu, whereas this lad…. What a header against Bournemouth!
“You cannot tell me that was not like Malcolm Macdonald or Alan Shearer, brave, put himself across the defender, no one was saving that. Rafa Benitez has taken a bit of time – sometimes he looks like he is chopping his hands off to spite his face…”
OPINION
Macdonald and Shearer are two Magpies legends who made supporters very happy by being prolific forces for the club so if Rondon can one day reach that level, then it will be amazing. The 29-year-old forward appeared to have a rough start to life at St James Park due to suffering an ill-timed injury but it looks like he has turned a corner. Rondon has made a memorable impression in his last two outings for Benitez’s team and could easily help the Magpies climb the table if he continues to deliver the goods. It’s good to hear Merson rave about him while predicting the Magpies’ trip to Burnley, however he does seem to praise the attacker in order to take a dig at Benitez. The pundit went out of his way to suggest that Benitez had taken too long to realise someone of Rondon’s stature was needed up front and even bizarrely suggested self sabotage on the manager’s part. However aside from that, this is actually a positive prediction by Merson for a change.
