Newcastle United welcome Leeds United to St James’ Park for a huge midweek clash near the foot of the Premier League table.
Victory would see Newcastle return to 15th position for at least 24 hours whereas Leeds will stay 12th with a win but move 14 points clear of relegation.
Team News
Javier Manquillo is a doubt after being substituted in Saturday’s defeat at Aston Villa with a knock.
Ciaran Clark (calf) could also be in contention but Paul Dummett (thigh), Federico Fernandez (hamstring) and DeAndre Yedlin (personal) remain absent.
Leeds could welcome Illan Meslier back after illness kept him out of their home defeat to Brighton over a week ago.
Gaetano Berardi, Robin Koch (both knee) and Adam Forshaw (hip) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have taken seven points from their last five Premier League meetings against Leeds (W2, D1, L2).
- Leeds have won just one of their last five top-flight trips to St James Park (W1, D1, L3).
- Five Newcastle players who started their last home game against Leeds in Championship in April 2017 have since left the club (Chancel Mbemba, Vurnon Anita, Yoan Gouffran, Ayoze Perez and Aleksandr Mitrovic).
- Patrick Bamford is the only Leeds player to have produced more than one headed league goal this season, having scored twice via headers.
- Newcastle’s Karl Darlow has made 73 saves this season, with only West Brom’s Sam Johnstone producing more saves.
Prediction
Newcastle just continue to look like a team on a downward spiral because their defending at Aston Villa on Saturday was poor with no urgency, although they did at least manage to concede just twice and showed signs of improvement in their attacking despite wasting shots from decent opportunities.
Leeds meanwhile haven’t played for over a week but will need to improve after a disappointing defensive display against Brighton last time out, especially in terms of spacing because the Seagulls were able to have plenty of shooting space without much challenge.
Saying that, their meeting last month at Elland Road was a thriller with both teams in terrible form so it is difficult to call this game but if Newcastle can build on the positives of Saturday’s performance, they should win this otherwise a draw would be best bet.
Prediction: Newcastle United 1-1 Leeds United
Result: Newcastle United 1-2 Leeds United
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