Newcastle United entertain Crystal Palace in a mid-table Premier League clash at St James’ Park.
Victory could lift Newcastle as high as seventh if results elsewhere swing into their favour, whilst Palace can climb as high as sixth with a win if results elsewhere go in their favour.
Team News
Lewis Hall is a doubt for Newcastle after he suffered a minor injury during their 3-1 win at Burnley.
Tino Livramento (knee), Sven Botman (back) and Kieran Trippier (hamstring) could return if fit
Anthony Elanga (knock), Dan Burn (rib/lung), Jamaal Lascelles (muscle), Emil Krafth (knee), and William Osula (ankle) remain absent.
Palace could be without midfielder, Will Hughes due to fatigue, which forced him to be substituted after 57 minutes in their 1-1 draw at home to Fulham on New Year’s Day.
Eddie Nketiah (muscle), Chris Richards (foot), Cheick Doucoure, Chadi Riad, Daniel Munoz (all knee), Daichi Kamada (hamstring), Ismaila Sarr (international duty), Rio Cardines (adductor) and Caleb Kporha (back) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Newcastle host Palace at St James’ Park on Sunday 4 January at 3pm GMT, live on Sky Sports Premier League in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have lost just one of their last eight league meetings against Palace (W3, D4, L1)
- Palace are winless in their last four league visits to Newcastle (D1, L3).
- Eddie Howe’s Magpies have kept clean sheets in each of their last five home games against Palace in all competitions, during which they scored 10 goals in three of their last four league clashes in that period.
- Newcastle have claimed five points in their four previous home games against London-based opposition this season (W1, D2, L1).
- Marc Guehi has played more live-ball passes this season than any other Palace player (922).
Prediction
After a strong display at Burnley where they clinically took their chances early plus at the end and controlled the game even despite a poorly marked consolatory goal from Josh Laurent, Newcastle will be pleased with their display and I expect more of the same even though patience might be needed to wear Palace down.
In fact, Palace’s biggest issues at the minute does seem to be converting their chances when in control alongside maintaining fitness energy levels in the second half, which shows the perils of trying to juggle games across multiple competitions so a draw against Fulham was a fair result.
I however do think that Newcastle will have too much for them come full time but Palace should still be able to take the fight to the Magpies in the first half, where they probably need to be leading at half time if want to at least claw a point from this game.
Prediction: Newcastle 2-1 Crystal Palace
Result: Newcastle 2-0 Crystal Palace
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