Newcastle United will endeavour to end a five-game winless run in the Premier League when they return to action against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon at St James' Park.
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II leading to the postponements of football matches up and down the United Kingdom, both sets of players have experienced a rare two-week lull with no competitive action.
Match preview
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The impenetrable walls that were Vicente Guaita and Nick Pope held firm throughout the 90 minutes of Newcastle's clash with Crystal Palace two weekends ago, as steadfast defending and unwanted VAR controversy took centre stage at St James' Park.
Newcastle thought they had clinched the all-important winner when Guaita was finally beaten by a Tyrick Mitchell own goal, but the strike was chalked off following a VAR review after it was determined that Joe Willock had fouled Guaita, despite being pushed by Mitchell.
The PGMOL has since acknowledged that a mistake was made in that incident, but that came as little consolation to Eddie Howe's side, who are without a win in five in the top flight since overcoming Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend.
The stalemate specialists have played out four draws from their last five in the league to occupy 11th spot in the rankings at this early stage, as their bid to disrupt the European-chasing crop since their lucrative takeover continues to falter.
Nevertheless, the Magpies are now welcoming Bournemouth to a ground where they have lost just one Premier League game in 2022 - and even that was only a narrow 1-0 defeat to Liverpool - and the hosts could also march to a fourth-straight win over a newly-promoted side this weekend.
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Bournemouth would have undoubtedly been keen to keep the momentum going from their enthralling comeback win over Nottingham Forest, but a two-week break has left Gary O'Neil with the difficult task of galvanising his troops for another tricky trip north.
Philip Billing, Jaidon Anthony and Dominic Solanke were all on target as the Cherries recovered from a two-goal deficit to run out 3-2 winners over their fellow newly-promoted side, as the board's decision to sack Scott Parker continues to be vindicated for now.
Four points from his opening two fixtures represents a solid start for stand-in manager O'Neil, who is giving no thought to the possibility of taking the reins full-time while attempting to steer 13th-placed Bournemouth further away from the dreaded dotted line.
However, Cheikhou Kouyate and Brennan Johnson's strikes for Forest mean that the Cherries have conceded at least two goals in all of their away games this season - including against Norwich City in the EFL Cup - and their league-low -13 goal difference is still recovering from that 9-0 Anfield humiliation against Liverpool.
Should Bournemouth concede at least three goals this weekend - which would take their total in that column to 21 - they will set a new record for the most goals shipped in a team's opening seven Premier League games of the season, and Newcastle did the double over the Cherries the last time the two sides met in 2019-20.
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Team News
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The extra period of rest will no doubt benefit Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes's chances of being available for the clash with Bournemouth, as the pair were "close" to making the cut against Palace before ultimately being ruled out.
Newcastle are definitely without Karl Darlow, Emil Krafth and Jonjo Shelvey, while Callum Wilson's thigh problem also renders him doubtful, meaning another start for Alexander Isak in the final third as he aims to score his first goal at St James' Park.
Jacob Murphy and Elliot Anderson will be pushing to displace Miguel Almiron and Ryan Fraser in the final third, while Saint-Maximin's imminent return also spells danger for the latter.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth's Junior Stanislas returned to team training last week and has a strong chance of being available for Saturday's game, but Ben Pearson and Joe Rothwell are expected to remain out until after the international break.
David Brooks has suffered a setback in his road to recovery, with the Welshman's hamstring giving him some trouble, and O'Neil is set to be working with a near-identical squad from the win over Forest here.
Ryan Fredericks replaced Jordan Zemura at half time at the City Ground, but the latter was arguably unfortunate to have been taken off and could form part of an unchanged Cherries XI here.
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Pope; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Targett; Guimaraes, Longstaff, Joelinton; Almiron, Isak, Saint-Maximin
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Neto; Smith, Mepham, Kelly, Zemura; Christie, Cook, Lerma, Tavernier; Billing; Solanke
We say: Newcastle United 2-0 Bournemouth
Newcastle's sturdy rearguard will prove quite the upgrade on a flaky Nottingham Forest defence for Bournemouth this weekend, and the Cherries' penchant for conceding goals away from home is apparent.
The potential returns of Saint-Maximin and Guimaraes will only benefit the hosts at their St James' Park fortress, and we expect the Magpies to claim a long-awaited win before the international break.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
