Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has heaped praise on Newcastle United winger Miguel Almiron, as well as predicting the Magpies’ clash with West Ham United on Saturday.
Rafael Benitez’s side travel to the London Stadium to take on the Hammers, with Merson believing that the two teams will cancel each other out in a 1-1 draw.
“Newcastle have turned the corner, they’re quite entertaining with three up front,” he wrote on the Sky Sports website. “Almiron looks a proper player, really quick and lively.
“From Benitez being a manager who makes sure they don’t lose, he’s now going out with Almiron, [Salomon] Rondon and [Ayoze] Perez and can have a go at teams. I’ll go for a draw here, I don’t see Newcastle losing this game.”
OPINION
Newcastle, as Merson says, do very much look as if they have turned a corner. They are riding the wave of back to back 2-0 wins over Huddersfield Town and Burnley, and the question now appears to be how high up the table can they finish? Relegation no longer seems to be a serious concern as Benitez continues to perform miracles at St James’ Park. It will be a tough test on Saturday, though. West Ham are no mugs, and they made life very difficult for Manchester City on Wednesday. Both teams will be set up well, they’ll be organised, and each side has a couple of flair players who can do damage to the opposition. Almiron is looking like a real find for Newcastle, there’s no doubt about that. He’s lightning quick, very intelligent and works extremely hard – in short, he’s the perfect Newcastle player! He’ll be up for this one, but Merson is probably right, a draw seems like the most likely result here.
