After a 2-1 win at Wolves on Sunday and Wimbledon to come next Tuesday in the Carabao Cup, this weekend’s trip to Fulham marks the second of three straight away games for Eddie Howe’s Mags.
We’re yet to reach anywhere near top gear, yet we sit third in the Premier League on 10 points after three wins and a draw from our opening four games.
Believe it or not, we could go top on Saturday night with a win, as top of the pile Man City and second place Arsenal don’t meet until Sunday. No one will be getting carried away if we do, but another victory and 13 points from a possible 15 would be some start and would set us up nicely before we welcome Pep Guardiola’s Champions to St James’ Park next weekend.
Eddie Howe’s pre-match comments
When asked if things are close to clicking from a performance point of view, Howe said: “Hopefully very close. There are a lot of games when you’re not in ‘fifth gear’ or whatever bracket you put it in, but you can still win games in third and fourth, and that’s what we didn’t do well enough last year.
“It’s very rare that you get into those moments where everything is going your way, and that’s what we’re looking for and of course there has to be improvements to key aspects of our game.”
“I see a really motivated team, a motivated squad, that want to do something really special this year. The commitment to our training has been very good.”
Team news
A late call will be made on Alexander Isak (toe/eye) and Callum Wilson won’t be back training until October’s international break. The Mail’s Craig Hope reported yesterday that there’s hope (pardon the pun) that he may be able to manage the issue and play.
Lewis Miley (foot) is still a “long way off”, while Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles remain months away as they recover from ACL surgery.
Predicted XI: Pope – Livramento, Schar, Burn, Kelly – Tonali, Bruno, Willock – Gordon, Isak, Barnes.
I think Howe will make a few changes for this one, as I’m backing Kelly, Tonali, Willock and Barnes to all start, with Trippier also one to watch at right-back based on his calming cameos in our last two away games.
With Adama Traore set to start down the right for Fulham, I think Kelly could be a good fit for this match, especially when Hall has been targeted for some of his defensive frailties that were exposed on more than one occasion at Wolves last weekend.
In midfield, now is surely the right time to bring Tonali in from the start and I’m going to stick my neck out and say Willock plays in that left-sided role over Joelinton; who has struggled in each of our away games so far. Willock’s second half display at Wolves was very effective and his pace, drive and unpredictability could help our left side, especially if we go for a slightly more defensive-minded full-back in Kelly.
The front three will surely by Barnes, Isak and Gordon if our star striker is fit enough to start. If not, we could see Almiron down the right – I think Murphy hasn’t done enough to start again – with Gordon up top and Barnes down the left.
Match prediction: Fulham 1-2 Newcastle
Last season, it took a number of first half scares and a late winner from Bruno Guimaraes to help us win 1-0 at Craven Cottage and we’ll be hoping for a similar outcome this time around.
The home side lost Joao Palhinha to Bayern over the summer, but they’ve done some good business bringing in Joachim Andersen at centre-back and have added some quality in attack with the signing of Emile Smith-Rowe from Arsenal.
Traore can cause havoc on his day and Antonee Robinson is an underrated left-back who will try to drive them forward down that side. However, we have the tools to cause all sorts of problems, some great options in midfield and a front three full of pace and quality, which can hopefully produce the goods, with our without Isak.
I think it might be another tight one, but I fancy us to make it three 2-1 wins on the spin, sending us top of the pile for Saturday night at least!
HWTL
