Newcastle United vs Crystal Palace

St James’ Park is the venue as Newcastle United and Crystal Palace go head-to-head in a bottom-half Premier League showdown.

Following an opening-day home win over Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United have gone winless in four consecutive Premier League outings (D3, L1), with a midweek 2-1 defeat at Liverpool arresting their unbeaten start to the season. Back at St James’ Park, the ‘Magpies’ are looking to win consecutive league matches against Crystal Palace for the first time since October 2017. Manager Eddie Howe has every reason to be optimistic, with Newcastle going unbeaten in 11 of their last 12 Premier League games on Tyneside (W8, D3). However, their indifferent four-match top-flight H2H record at St James’ Park (W2, L2) suggests this encounter could go either way.

In the meantime, visiting Crystal Place have experienced a false start to the new Premier League campaign, picking up just one win from the opening five rounds (D2, L2). Unlike last season when they had some defensive compactness, Patrick Vieira’s men have yet to keep a clean sheet in league action this term, conceding an average of 1.8 goals per game. That’s one of the reasons the ‘Eagles’ have dropped ten points from winning positions across their last seven league fixtures. Topically, the visitors have returned just one point from their previous three Premier League road trips despite breaking the deadlock on each occasion.