Newcastle United 0-0 Norwich City: Canaries stuck in relegation zone

Newcastle and Norwich played out a poor 0-0 draw at St. James' Park with neither side able to make the breakthrough in a game lacking in quality.

Norwich had the better of the chances, with Sam Byram (5) and Teemu Pukki (61) guilty of missing the best opportunities, while Newcastle could have gone ahead in the first half when Joelinton's header (21) was saved by Tim Krul.

There were 20 corners in total, with Norwich having 12 and Newcastle eight, yet neither side could make any of them count in a game which severely lacked a clinical finisher.

The result is not a great help to either side, with Norwich languishing seven points off safety at the bottom of the table, while Newcastle are 10th.

Both sides lack clinical touch

The match actually started fairly promisingly, with both sides passing the ball about well and looking to attack when possible.

The first clear chance came to Byram, who got good contact with a header from a corner, but his effort was too close to Martin Dubravka, who palmed it away well.

Pukki was next to go close for the visitors, but his effort from just outside the box was tipped over from Dubravka, who was excellent all day.

Newcastle's best chance fell to Joelinton, whose header was palmed away by Krul, with Miguel Almiron's follow-up missing the target.

The second half saw a flurry of corners and free-kicks for both sides, but neither were able to make anything of them, and the St James' Park faithful groaned with frustration on more than one occasion.

Pukki was wasteful on two occasions for the Canaries. First he blazed over the bar in the 61st minute after he was found in the box with a cross, and he then had his tame effort saved by Dubravka 10 minutes later when he was put through by Ondrej Duda.

In the end neither side could make the breakthrough, and both sets of fans would have left St James' Park feeling disappointed.

Debutant watch

Nabil Bentaleb was the only of Newcastle's recent signings to start the game, and he put in a tidy if unspectacular performance to give Toon supporters a sign of things to come.

Valentino Lazaro and Danny Rose came off the bench in the second half, and looked decent on their first appearances. They will surely be in for a starting berth in the near future, with Steve Bruce's side desperately in need of an addition of quality.

What the managers said

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce: "What's important is when you play so poorly you don't get beaten. That is the only positive along with the introduction of three new lads who will help us.

"But from the way we looked tired and jaded in the forward areas, I still don't think Allan Saint-Maximin is 100 per cent, I am concerned with him. Overall you move on and take it and get ready for Tuesday."

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Norwich boss Daniel Farke: "We are totally disappointed. In general an away draw at Newcastle and a clean sheet isn't bad. We controlled it, created chances. From first to last we controlled it. The only that was missing was a goal. We are upset with the outcome.

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"I always respect the players. They put themselves in tough positions. We were dangerous. They did everything we asked for. We want them to be more brutal with their finishing, but these things happen sometimes. I'm happy with the performance, not the result.

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What's next?

• Premier League winter break explained

Newcastle go to Oxford United for an FA Cup replay on Tuesday, while Norwich host Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday, February 15 at 5.30pm live on Sky Sports

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