Newcastle United vs Brentford

Out-of-form Newcastle United will be desperate to return to winning ways when they encounter high-flying Brentford at St James’ Park.

Last season’s impressive fourth-place finish could prove nothing more than a fluke, at least based on Newcastle United’s dreadful form at the start of the new campaign. Following an emphatic 5-1 home triumph over Aston Villa on the opening weekend, Eddie Howe’s men have lost three Premier League matches on the trot, most recently succumbing to a 3-1 defeat at Brighton. Their last top-flight outing at St James’ Park left a bitter taste in Howe’s mouth, with the ‘Magpies’ surrendering a halftime lead in a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss to 10-man Liverpool. Keen to get back on track after the international break, Newcastle will seek inspiration in their impressive scoring home form against Brentford, having netted 3+ goals in only previous Premier League H2Hs on Tyneside (W1, D1).

In the meantime, visiting Brentford came into September’s international break as one of only six unbeaten clubs in the Premier League. However, Thomas Frank’s men have established themselves as the early stalemate specialists, sharing the spoils in three of their opening four league matches (W1), including a last-gasp 2-2 draw against Bournemouth last time out. But their only triumph came away from home, with the ‘Bees’ putting Fulham to the sword in a scintillating 3-0 romping on matchday two. Despite lacking their headline striker Ivan Toney to suspension, the visitors have been too hot to handle in the front third, scoring 2+ goals in three out of four top-flight contests in 2023/24. Against this backdrop, they’ve netted one or fewer in their last three H2Hs against Newcastle.