Before
This fixture has produced plenty of drama in the last two seasons with our heavy defeat two years ago spelling the end for Roy Keane while back in March we hammered them 4-0. Things have changed a lot this season with both of us challenging for (beginning to dream of) a Europa League spot. Bolton are rapidly shaking off their heavy duty image and have looked an attractive side on the few occasions I've seen them on TV. Davies and Elmander are in great goal-scoring form but the way Mensah played last week inspired a lot of confidence while Onuaha too is a man to depend on. I'm always happy to see Elmo in the side as he's an even better attacking full back than Hutton, whom I'd have been happy to have in the team. Gyan has recovered and will surely start upfront with Bent. It remains to be seen if Richardson will start as his England aspirations haven't exactly been helped by recent sloppy performances while I'd always have Bolo in. One thing that's certain is that Gordon will replace Mig so I hope he's got over his jittery phase. I was a bit worried about the match being postponed but as it turns out, it's snowing heavily here in west London while I hear the sun is shining on Wearside. Match prediction: this is going to be a tough one and considering our positions in the league it is indeed a six-pointer but I fancy us to squeeze a hard-won victory, 2-1.

After
What with getting up late and the weather, I didn't get myself over to the Sunderland pub in Covent Garden and stayed at home instead to listen to Five Live. I was surprised to see Ferdinand back so soon and would've preferred Onuaha with Elmo on the right. Five Live broadcaster Danny Mills didn't get off to a good start by saying how impressed he was that so many Newcastle fans had turned out. There was little action in the first fifteen minutes but Bolton were doing more of the attacking. Our best chance so far came from Bent following a corner but ominously he shot wide from twelve yards. Next Mensah went off for a few minutes and though he returned after a short while, he had to go off for good. Elmo replaced him with Onuaha moving into the centre. So, with half an hour gone things weren't looking too good for us with our key defender off and Bent sounding like he was suffering from a hefty tackle earlier on. Davies in particular was tackling hard and it was after one of his that Mensah was injured. However, things took a sharp turn for the better when Bent headed Henderson's cross goalwards, Jaaskeleinen partly cleared it and Welbeck dived to head it home. The match, which had threatened to be a case of the two sides cancelling each other out, livened up and as half-time approached Cahill was booked for them and Catts for us. In the last minute Gordon did very well to save from Knight from a corner. The crowd were booing Elmander like hell for a couple of clumsy challenges but Danny Mills was having none of it. I was very pleased with 1-0 at half-time.

There'd been no more changes as the second-half kicked off. The first incident was when Catts made a hefty tackle of his own on Elmander and I hoped he'd cool it as it was clear he could be off again if he made another similar one. Next thing Holden was booked after two bad tackles in a row and it didn't look like we'd finish with twenty-two men on the field. The crowd of 35,101 was announced and that wasn't bad considering the weather and Christmas shopping factors. Klasnic came on for Petrov around the hour-mark and Bolton appeared to go 4-3-3 but they didn't really threaten to get an equalizer and Klasnic, thankfully, had a stinker. With twenty minutes left Welbeck went very close with a low shot from a Gyan pass and a few minutes later Bolo came on for Gyan, which was a bit of a surprise as Bent was having rather an off day by the sound of it. Cohen and Rodrigo replaced Muamba and Taylor for Bolton with seven minutes to go. Soon afterwards Bolton threatened for a change but the ball hit Ferdinand and went for a corner. As the final minutes ticked away slowly I couldn't sit down any more and as my upstairs neighbour had started playing some loud music I danced around Bolo style to help pass the time. I needed something as four minutes of stoppage-time were then announced but finally it ended and we'd won 1-0.

This sounded a solid if unremarkable performance from us but it was a great result and our ninth clean-sheet of the season. With the almost complete absence of other games this weekend we've got the points in the bag as we leapfrog Bolton into sixth place. Another bonus of the fixture white-out is that we should monopolize 'Match of the Day' tonight unless Blackburn and West Ham produce a thriller.

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