Newcastle United welcome Arsenal to St James’ Park in the first of a Super Sunday triple-header live on Sky Sports.
Victory will see Newcastle climb up to 13th until at least Monday evening if Crystal Palace lose on Saturday afternoon, whereas Arsenal can go ninth with a win if Leeds and Aston Villa both fail to claim three points on Saturday.
Team News
Fabian Schar could return for Newcastle after making a recovering from a knee injury which had sidelined him in recent weeks.
Matt Ritchie (calf) is a doubt and could join Jamaal Lascelles (foot), Ryan Fraser (groin), Isaac Hayden and Karl Darlow (both knee) on sidelines.
Joe Willock misses out because he is ineligible to face his parent club.
Arsenal could welcome Kieran Tierney (knee) and Alexandre Lacazette (hamstring) back if both players are declared fit by club doctors.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have lost 15 of their last 16 league meetings against Arsenal (W1, L15).
- Arsenal have lost just one of their last seven trips to St James’ Park (W6, L1).
- Jacob Murphy is the only Newcastle player to have scored from a freekick this season.
- No Premier League team have had more players red carded this season than Arsenal, with five individual players all sent off in 33 matches.
- Newcastle drew their only previous home game this season refereed by Mike Dean, as they scrapped to a 1-1 draw against Wolves in late February.
Prediction
Having conceded after just three minutes at Liverpool last Saturday, Newcastle could of easily unravelled defensively, yet their pressing and creative attacking play eventually were rewarded with a crucial point despite awful defending from Ciaran Clark at times.
Arsenal meanwhile need to start bucking up their ideas because after a lethargic display against Everton in their last league game, they barely showed much improvement on Thursday evening against Villarreal and are lucky to have an away goal for their efforts.
Mikel Arteta however will be relieved that his Gunners have a fiercely great record against Newcastle in recent seasons, although Steve Bruce’s Magpies have finally found form so will make this a tougher contest than Arsenal might be expecting.
Prediction: Newcastle 1-1 Arsenal
Result: Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal