Newcastle United Vs Fulham: Magpies Ready To Fly High Again At St James Park

The front line trio Newcastle United (photo: x @NUFC)

JAKARTA - Two Premier League bottom-board residents will face each other at St James Park on Saturday afternoon, October 25, when Newcastle United host Fulham in a match that could be a turning point for both of them.

The Magpies are now in 14th place with nine points, while Fulham is one place below them with eight points.

After eight Premier League games, no team has recorded more clean sheets than Newcastle five times, level with Arsenal. Interestingly, their matches so far have also been the fewest goals in the league: a total of only 14 goals (7 scored, 7 conceded).

Eddie Howe can be proud of his team's strong defense, but the final result remains the main measure. Newcastle have only won twice, drawn three times, and lost three times. The two wins were won against the relegation zone teams Wolves (1-0) and Nottingham Forest (2-0). However, the trend was stopped last week when they lost 2-1 to Brighton.

Luckily, in the middle of last week The Magpies managed to restore confidence with a 3-0 win over Benfica in the Champions League. Anthony Gordon opened the scoring first, followed by two goals from Harvey Barnes who looked crazy in the second half.

Now, Newcastle is back focused on the league. They certainly wanted to avoid a repeat last February, when they lost 1-2 to Fulham at home. Newcastle's last lost twice in a row at home to Fulham more than seven decades ago in the 1950-51 season.

Meanwhile, Fulham came to Tynedey on bad capital: three consecutive Premier League defeats to Aston Villa, Bournemouth, and Arsenal. Last week's 0-1 defeat to Arsenal resulted in only one shot on target for Marco Silva's side.

The Portuguese coach demanded his team play more 'cruel and firm' in front of the opponent's goal. And indeed, Fulham has big problems in the offensive sector: only recorded 23 shots on target this season the third worst in the league, only ahead of Burnley and Sunderland.

Worse yet, the back line is also unstable. They have only recorded clean sheets once in the last 17 Premier League matches (1-0 against Leeds last month). Fulham has also always conceded in the last 10 meetings with Newcastle.

However, there is little hope: last season Fulham successfully swept two meetings against Newcastle, and now has the chance to win three straight wins over the Magpies for the first time since 2017.

In the Newcastle camp, Tino Livramento and Yoane Wissa are still injured in the knee, while Lewis Hall is absent due to a hamstring problem. Joelinton, who had a minor injury, has returned and is ready to play from the start, joining Bruno Guimar totales and Sandro Tonali in midfield.

Fabian Schryptor is likely to replace one ofatured Botman or Malick Thiaw at the heart of defense. Harvey Barnes has a great chance of starting after scoring two goals against Benfica, although Anthony Elanga and Jacob Murphy are also competing for the right flank.

In the front line, Nick Woltemade is almost certainly the spearhead after scoring four goals from five Premier League games. If he scores again, he will be on par with legends like Lo calmc R\'emy, Les Ferdinand, and Papiss Cissé as the fastest players to reach five goals for Newcastle.

On the Fulham side, Joachim Andersen (hamstring), Antonee Robinson (lutut), Rodrigo Muniz (dots), and Samuel Chukwueze (betis) are all absent. Harry Wilson is doubtful, but Sasa Lukic is back and ready to play, as is Tom Cairney who has recovered from a back injury.

Calvin Bassey is predicted to fill the center-back position to replace Andersen, duet with Jorge Cuenca. Lukic will partner with Sander Berge in midfield, while Alex Iwobi one more match towards his 300th appearance in the Premier League will be the mainstay on the wing side with Kevin or Adama Traoré. Raul Jimenez remains trusted as the spearhead.

Both teams did perform ups and downs at the start of the season, but Newcastle had a much more solid defense and high confidence after a landslide victory in Europe. While Fulham was still blunt up front and fragile behind. With this condition, the victory for the hosts at St James Park seemed almost certain.

Estimates of the line-up:Newcastle United (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Sch serious, Botman, Burn; Tonali, Guimar fire, Joelinton; Barnes, Woltemade, Gordon.Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Cuenca, Bassey, Sessegnon; Berge, Lukic; Traor\'e, King, Iwobi; Jimenez.

Newcastle United 2-0 Fulham