Newcastle United vs Crystal Palace

Newcastle United and Crystal Palace are set to trade tackles at St James’ Park in an exciting all-Premier League English League Cup third-round tie.

It’s been almost two decades since Newcastle United were last in the Premier League top-four picture, yet a sublime 14-game top-flight start (W7, D6, L1) keeps them firmly in the race for the Champions League qualification spots. Since holding Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford in mid-October, the ‘Magpies’ have gone from strength to strength in England’s elite competition, winning four consecutive matches via an aggregate score of 11-2, including a 4-1 humbling of Southampton at the weekend. However, Eddie Howe’s men failed to trouble the scoreboard during a ‘nil-nil’ home draw with Palace earlier in September, though they’ve extended their unbeaten H2H run to three games (W1, D2).

On the other hand, a humiliating 3-0 defeat at Everton a fortnight ago proved a wake-up call for Crystal Palace as they’ve since won back-to-back Premier League outings via a single-goal margin, including a come-from-behind 2-1 win at West Ham United last weekend. A somewhat surprising triumph over fellow London rivals helped the ‘Eagles’ overcome a dreadful four-game winless away run (D2, L2) by netting 2+ goals on the road for the first time since late August! But scoring has been a genuine issue for Patrick Vieira’s men on their recent visits to St James’ Park, as they’ve drawn a blank three times in their last four away H2Hs against Newcastle (W1, D1, L2).