Newcastle United will be aiming to record back-to-back victories in the Premier League for only the second time this season when they welcome Crystal Palace to St James' Park on Tuesday evening.
The Magpies managed to end their barren winless run with a 2-0 victory over Everton last time out, while Palace claimed a vital 1-0 win of their own over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Match preview
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The ever-growing pressure on Steve Bruce's shoulders has been eased for a few days at least, as Newcastle finally managed to put an end to their losing run by beating Everton 2-0 on Merseyside at the weekend.
In a rare display of attacking dominance, the Magpies were full value for their win at Goodison Park as Callum Wilson netted a brace - his ninth and 10th league goals of the season - to hand Newcastle their first victory of 2021.
Fans were quick to hail the immediate impact of Graeme Jones, who had been appointed as assistant manager just days before Saturday's triumph, and Bruce will now be determined to get the St James' Park faithful back on his side as the spring approaches.
Victory at Goodison Park ended a run of six defeats across all competitions for Newcastle and marked the first time in 11 matches that they managed to notch up more than one goal in a game - last doing so in December's 5-2 defeat to Leeds United.
With Fulham and West Bromwich Albion sharing the spoils at the weekend, 16th-placed Newcastle have now opened up an eight-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone, and Bruce's side will now look to avoid going five home games without a win when an inconsistent Palace pay a visit this week.
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Despite some recent off-the-pitch misdemeanours regarding coronavirus protocols, Eberechi Eze continues to make the difference on the field for Crystal Palace as his strike sunk an out-of-sorts Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
The former Queens Park Rangers man struck for the third time in the Premier League as Palace ended a three-game winless run in the top flight, and the fixture list now begins to look a lot friendlier for Roy Hodgson's side after a taxing January.
Palace only managed to take one point from their January clashes with in-form sides Arsenal, Manchester City and West Ham United, but their trip to Newcastle precedes fixtures against Leeds United, Burnley, Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham in the coming weeks, so Hodgson has every right to expect a significant points haul from those matches.
However, the 13th-placed Eagles are yet to win or score away from home in any competition since the turn of the year, and only three teams have shipped more goals on the road than Palace's 18 so far.
Wilson and Joelinton both netted in Newcastle's 2-0 victory over Palace at Selhurst Park in November, and the last four meetings between the sides at St James' Park have ended 1-0 - with Newcastle winning three of those clashes.
Newcastle United Premier League form: LLLLLW
Newcastle United form (all competitions): LLLLLW
Crystal Palace Premier League form: DWDLLW
Crystal Palace form (all competitions): WLDLLW
Team News
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Newcastle lost captain Jamaal Lascelles to injury after 54 minutes against Everton, and Bruce has since conceded that the centre-back will miss "a good few weeks" with that hamstring problem.
Ciaran Clark should therefore be called upon to deputise with Federico Fernandez also still injured, while Paul Dummett could potentially return despite missing out against Everton, but DeAndre Yedlin is supposedly closing in on a move to Galatasaray.
Allan Saint-Maximin demonstrated his usual flashes of brilliance after coming off the bench for the third league game in a row, and the 23-year-old may finally be ready to return to the starting lineup this week.
Palace also lost a player to injury at the weekend in the form of James McCarthy, but the extent of the midfielder's problem is currently unclear.
With James McArthur also failing to make the cut at the weekend, Jairo Riedewald is in contention for a start in midfield, but the likes of Jeffrey Schlupp, James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho remain in the treatment room.
New arrival Jean-Philippe Mateta was an unused substitute at the weekend and will be hoping to make his debut for the Eagles at St James' Park.
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Darlow; Manquillo, Schar, Clark, Lewis; Almiron, Hayden, Shelvey, M. Longstaff, Saint-Maximin; Wilson
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Guaita; Clyne, Kouyate, Dann, Van Aanholt; Riedewald, Milivojevic; Townsend, Eze, Zaha; Mateta
We say: Newcastle United 2-1 Crystal Palace
Palace are not renowned for their goalscoring exploits away from home, but Wilfried Zaha and co will hope to take advantage of the loss of Lascelles this week. However, the hosts are sure to be brimming with confidence after their impressive win against Everton and will hope to prove that their victory on Merseyside was no fluke, so we can envisage another win for Newcastle on Tuesday.
Top betting tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Newcastle United win with a probability of 37.48%. A win for Crystal Palace had a probability of 35.03% and a draw had a probability of 27.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Newcastle United win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.96%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.04%) and 2-0 (6.78%). The likeliest Crystal Palace win was 0-1 (10.51%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood.
