FIFA 18 simulation: Newcastle United host Swansea City
Before the real action, let’s see how Newcastle United vs. Swansea City went in a FIFA 18 simulation.
Newcastle United hosts Swansea City in a few hours. To get a preview of the action, we turn to a FIFA 18 simulation.
For the Newcastle United lineup, we went with the consensus from our lineup predictions, giving us this 4-2-3-1 squad: Darlow; Dummett, Lascelles, Clark, Yedlin; Shelvey, Merino; Atsu, Ayoze, Ritchie; Gayle.
On the Swansea City side, we lined them up unchanged from their last Premier League match.
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It didn’t take long for the Swans to get the match going. Jordan Ayew beautifully curled a shot in the second minute, but it rang off the outside of the post. It took until the 15th minute for Newcastle United to get sustained possession in the Swansea half. The passing in the center of the park was poor for the Magpies, seeing most of their limited success up the right wing.
Despite being the less dominant side early, Newcastle United broke through first. Quality team play led to Matt Ritchie getting an attempt on goal. While the initial shot was saved from close range, his sliding follow-up found the net. Dwight Gayle should have doubled the lead, but his shot from inside the area went wide. Swansea’s Tom Carroll had an effort just before the half sail over the bar.
Isaac Hayden replaced Mikel Merino early in the second half. Christian Atsu had the first chance of the second 45, forcing a save from Lukasz Fabianski. On the ensuing corner, a Hayden effort from distance was deflected to Gayle. He somehow skewed the shot well wide from the mouth of the goal.
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Ritchie notched his second of the match, as he bent a 71st-minute shot into the top corner. Swansea would never really test Karl Darlow, as the match ended 2-0. Newcastle United led in shots and possession.