Newcastle travel to Selhurst Park tomorrow for a 5:30pm kick-off against Crystal Palace live on Sky Sports.
The Magpies are without star man, Bruno Guimaraes after he left St James’ Park on crutches last week after Newcastle’s victory over Fulham. Eddie Howe confirmed this morning that we still don’t have a timescale on his return but the injury is not as bad as first feared.
It does mean, however, that some changes will have to be made to the team. The obvious play would be to bring Joelinton back to the centre after playing the last few games out on the left side of the attack. Allan Saint-Maximin and Alexander Isak are both back to fitness now so we could see either one of those on the left in place of Joelinton.
I think Eddie Howe will probably go with ASM, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for Isak. The Swedish international changed the dynamic of the team when he came on against Fulham and linked up with Callum Wilson to score the winning goal, showing that the two of them could play together and that it could possibly be a deadly partnership.
On that image there I got Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff the wrong way around; I think Longstaff will be trusted to shore up the midfield in place of Bruno, but that midfield is fairly fluid anyway and they all cover each other’s positions brilliantly.
The defence picks itself these days, as long as they’re fit, that back five shouldn’t be toyed with.
Palace have a couple of players that Newcastle need to be wary of. Wilfred Zaha is always dangerous, as are Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze. However, our team is stronger all over the pitch and I can see another clean sheet for Nick Pope along with another three points for the Mags.
Score Prediction: Crystal Palace 0-1 Newcastle United