Newcastle’s confidence restored after draw against Chelsea: Wijnaldum

REUTERS – Newcastle United’s confidence has been restored after their morale-boosting 2-2 draw against Chelsea at the weekend, midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has said.

The Magpies, second from bottom in the Premier League table, travel to the Etihad Stadium to take on Manchester City on Saturday and will need to be on their toes to keep Manuel Pellegrini’s men at bay.

Newcastle have failed to beat City in their last 17 Premier League encounters, conceding two or more goals in their last 14 league games against Saturday’s opponents.

Wijnaldum, however, is backing his side to get something from the game, based on their encouraging performance against Chelsea at the weekend.

“We know that there’s a chance for us (against City),” the 24-year-old said, quoted by the Chronicle.

“It (getting a point against Chelsea) was a really big step for us. We have a result now and it’s a point against the champions of last year,” he added.

“If we’d won maybe we’d have been lucky, but unfortunately we couldn’t hold on.

“We’ve had a good performance now but we know we can be better.”

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)