[NoSkillz]

Sat. October 18, 2025

Barclays Premier League
Dover (7-0-0, 21 points, 1st) vs. Newcastle (2-3-2, 9 points, 11th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, England

Betting Odds: Dover: 2-5 (Favourites) Draw: 11-4 Newcastle: 13-2
Past Meetings: 8W 1D 3L

Last year, Newcastle SHOCKED US 2-1 right here at Crabble so despite being monster favourites, there is no chance I’m taking them lightly. Newcastle are in their sixth consecutive year in the top flight after a one year drop to the Championship in 2019/20. They are a mid to lower table team and once again are sitting in 11th but they are coming off an 8th place finish last year to just miss out on European football. They spent £12 million on seven players during the transfer period, including £4.2 million on sc Heerenveen midfielder Carlos Mercado. Daniel Iturrieta is their danger man and has four goals so far this year.

We have a very tired squad after the international break so I need to rest a few key players today. Salim Loucif and Chiquinho are both too tired so I’ll sit them out in favour of Rodolfo Lopez and Manuel Lugo - Lugo has been tearing it up on the reserves and I’ll give him a look today alongside Paul Moses. Also tired is Jose, who has been battling his fitness since training camp. Neil Cairney will slot in today. We have Arsene Bamba back and he’ll be on the bench today as he tries to regain match fitness.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - I. Wilke
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, R. Lopez
M - M. Pedersen, N. Cairney, B. Raab, G. Bolis
S - P. Moses, M. Lugo
Bench - Rafinha, M. Mutesa, Jose, P. Secchi, S. De la Vega, A. Bamba, A. Broomes

Newcastle are in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Iturrieta up front alone and Jak Alnwick in goal. As huge favourites, I once again tell the team I expect a win.

39’ - It’s been a frustrating half, as we seem to be doing well with possession but just can’t get any real chances. We finally break through and it’s Manuel Lugo laying a pass off to Paul Moses at midfield. Moses dribbles between the two central defenders, gets into the area and blasts a low shot past Alnwick and in. DOVER GOAL 1-0

HALFTIME - Well, I’d like to be leading by more but we just aren’t generating shots on target. We hold 53% of the ball, outshoot them 15-7 (3-0 on target) but we need that insurance marker. I try to encourage the players to get a few more goals.

61’ - I decide to pull off a nervous Lugo and bring in Jose. We switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation and have Benedikt Raab playing AMC.

75’ - Frustrating. We move back to a flat 4-4-2 and bring in Andy Broomes for Neil Cairney.

80’ - We have possession in their end and Renato Gaucho throws a pass into the middle of the pitch to Jose. He feeds it into the area to Moses, who is really close to being offside but he rounds the keeper and easily scores. Newcastle complain to no avail! DOVER GOAL 2-0

83’ - I take out Gianluca Bolis and bring in Sergio De la Vega.

Ok.

Dover 2 - 0 Newcastle
Goals - Paul Moses 2 (8.8)
Assists - Manuel Lugo (6.8), Jose (6.9)
Man of the Match - Paul Moses
Other Dover Notables - Rodolfo Lopez (7.1), Rayane Hamon (7.1), Claudio Contreras (7.4), Renato Gaucho (7.1), Benedikt Raab (7.2), Mads Pedersen (7.0)
Attendance - 22,845

We were in control all game but just couldn’t break them down. We held 55% of the ball and outshot them 30-11 (5-3 on target). Another productive game from Moses, which is great to see.

-- Birmingham are somehow able to hold Man United to a scoreless draw!! Man City destroy Southampton 4-0, the very surprising Wolves throttle Sheffield United 5-0 and Sunderland drop a 2-1 decision to Chelsea. In other match ups, Hull shock Huddersfield 4-1 and Arsenal and Liverpool draw 1-1.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 8 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Dover - 24 points
2. Manchester City - 22 points
3. Manchester United - 20 points
4. Liverpool - 15 points
----------------------------------------------------
5. Wolves - 13 points
6. Huddersfield - 13 points
7. Tottenham - 11 points (after 7 games)
----------------------------------------------------



Dover U18 Update

-- Fernando Estrada is ridiculous - he scores FIVE goals in our 6-0 win over Kingstonian, with strike partner Marcus Sowter scoring the other goal. Estrada is up to 21 goals in 12 non-competitive matches (9 starts). Superb!



Dover Injury Update

-- We are completely healthy!! We do have a few players who just returned from injury that will need time to regain match fitness, with Emmerson Harvey and Arsene Bamba being two in that category.



Next Up

-- We are big favourites as we welcome Spartak Moscow into Crabble Athletic Ground as we continue with Champions League group play.