The striker scored his third goal in five appearances, netting the winner against Norwich City yesterday. He is making himself increasingly difficult to leave out.
The last time manager Alan Pardew played a 4-4-2 away from home and started both Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse up front, Newcastle were cut to shreds by Tottenham Hotspur.
He was reluctant to play the same system against a free-scoring Arsenal side last Monday, with the tactic almost paying dividends, only to be undone by a 95th minute Thomas Vermaelen winner.
With the Magpies traveling to West Brom this weekend, the striker will be crossing his fingers that he has done enough to avoid starting the game on the bench.
If Pardew is insistent on playing just the one striker, then he may to do the unthinkable- Drop Demba Ba.
Ba is not in the blistering form he was in before he left for the African Nations Cup, scoring just one goal since, and that was on February 5.
Since then he has started every game for the club, but failed to find the net, even missing a penalty against Sunderland.
Ba has been such a revelation that it is surely only a matter of time before he gets scoring again.
The easiest thing to do is to ‘play through it’, a goal will spark him back into life, he needs one to go in off his knee.
Right now though, Ba should not be selected ahead of Cisse, who has been such a potent weapon in Newcastle’s home matches, scoring winners against Norwich and Aston Villa.
Ideally Newcastle will play both players against West Brom, but much may depend on other players recovering from injuries.
Hatem Ben Arfa is playing well enough to warrant a first team place, and started off the striker against Arsenal, but played a deeper role against Norwich yesterday with the two frontmen up top and Cheik Tiote absent in central midfield.
If Pardew elects to play Ben Arfa off the striker against West Brom, that striker should be Cisse.
Nothing against Ba, but Cisse has earned his right to start, and Ba is out of form.
How many and which strikers should Newcastle play against West Brom next weekend?
image: © mikebrown59
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