On Saturday, Newcastle United will host Brentford at St. James’ Park hoping to make it back-to-back wins in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, the Bees will be trying to avoid losing their third straight Premier League match.
Our Match Preview: Newcastle United vs Brentford
Newcastle won 4-1 against Fulham last weekend after going six Premier League games without a victory. Nathaniel Chalobah’s early departure helped Newcastle, as Miguel Almiron, Callum Wilson, and Sean Longstaff scored before the hour mark.
Bobby Decordova-late Reid’s goal denied Nick Pope a fourth clean sheet this season. Eddie Howe was relieved as his team earned only their second league victory of the season from eight games.
But they have gone up to the seventh position in the rankings, just three points off the top four and one points behind sixth-placed Manchester United, whom they will meet next weekend.
Newcastle has converted St. James’ Park into a fortress in recent months, losing just one of their past 14 league matches at home.
The Magpies are undefeated in their past six league encounters against Brentford, winning five and losing one.
Their last home match was a 3-3 draw in November. Brentford scored 15 goals in their first six Premier League games but have gone scoreless in their past two against Arsenal and Bournemouth.
A 3-0 home loss to the Gunners was followed by a goalless draw against the Cherries last Saturday. Thomas Frank’s squad is 10th and tied on points with Merseyside rivals Liverpool and Everton. They are four points off both the top four and the relegation zone.
Brentford broke a record of 19 league away games without a clean sheet with a goalless draw against Bournemouth last time out. They will now try to keep back-to-back away shutouts for the first time since December 1937 and January 1938.
The Bees have surrendered 11 goals in their past three games at St James’ Park against Newcastle.
Our Team News: Newcastle United vs Brentford
Since Alexander Isak and Chris Wood are still out with muscle and rib ailments, respectively, injury-prone Newcastle striker Wilson is anticipated to start again up front after playing for little over an hour last weekend.
Long-term injuries have also sidelined Jonjo Shelvey, Emil Krafth, and Karl Darlow, while Allan Saint-thigh Maximin’s injury has left him questionable.
The midfield combination of Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock, and Sean Longstaff looked solid together last week and should keep their starting spots, while Ryan Fraser is likely to challenge Jacob Murphy for a spot in the starting front three.
Brentford will be without Swedish central defender Pontus Jansson, who limped out with a hamstring injury in the second half against Bournemouth.
Christian Norgaard is out as well due to an Achilles injury, while Keane Lewis-Potter and Ethan Pinnock are questionable due to knee and elbow injuries respectively.
Since Aaron Hickey is anticipated to make his way back into the starting lineup at right back, Kristoffer Ajer may be asked to fill in for Jansson at center back, while Josh Dasilva may replace Shandon Baptiste in the middle of the park.
Frank is expected to keep his starting attack tandem of Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo intact, with either Mikkel Damsgaard or Yoane Wissa joining them.
- Newcastle United possible starting lineup: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn; Willock, Guimaraes, S. Longstaff; Almiron, Wilson, Fraser.
- Brentford possible starting lineup: Raya, Hickey, Ajer, Mee, Henry, Jensen, Janelt, Dasilva, Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa.
Our Prediction: Newcastle United 2-1 Brentford
Goals have been plentiful in the past five encounters between these two teams at St. James’ Park, with a total of 24 scored (an average of 4.8 per match), suggesting that there should be plenty of scoring action in the Northeast this weekend.
Both Newcastle and Brentford will feel confident about their prospects of winning, but we see the hosts adding another three points in front of their home supporters this coming Saturday.