Match Preview: Newcastle v Brentford: Preview, Team News, Prediction

Newcastle take on Brentford in a 5.30pm KO and SJP today in looking to record their first win in four games. After heavy defeats against Liverpool and Manchester City Eddie's Howe and the team need to lift the gloom currently surrounding many fans with a victory.

Match Preview

The Magpies and the Bees meet for the first time since the beginning of November when Brentford claimed a 3-1 victory at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Newcastle go into the game without a win in four games and with a PL record of nine wins, six draws and nine defeats, scoring and conceding 33 goals each to leave a GD of 0.

The Magpies sit 11th in the table and six points behind the top six with 14 games left to play. Defeat today and wins for the teams above us would make Newcastle's chances of getting into that top six a task most fans would think is beyond Eddie's Howe's team.

Newcastle have won nine of their last 10 home encounters with Brentford across all competitions but that won't count for anything today and the Bees come to SJP in 7th place and three points above the Toon in the table.

After suffering back-to-back 2-0 defeats against Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, Brentford secured an excellent 1-0 win at Aston Villa last weekend, despite playing for more than 45 minutes with only 10 men following Kevin Schade’s straight red card.

Schade will miss today's game and that is a plus for Newcastle as he is a key p,layer for Brentford.

Across the last eight Premier League games only Arsenal (17) have collected more points than the Bees (16), with Keith Andrews’s team also having the joint-best defensive record in that period with seven goals conceded.

In summary' This will be a tough test for Newcastle against a team who will come full of confidence and looking to consolidate their position near the top of the table.

Team News

With injury doubts over Bruno, Jo and Miley, and Gordon definitely out, Eddie Howe's options on team selection could be limited.

Injuries to key players have played a part in recent results but even with a full squad to choose from performance levels have been below what fans have hoped for.

For Brentford, Fabio Carvalho, Antoni Milambo and Josh Dasilva all remain long-term absences with knee injuries, joining key attacker Schade on the players not available to Keith Andrews.

Match Prediction

The outcome of this game might be decided by the team Eddie Howe is able to put out.

If Bruno and Jo are again missing from midfield the expected line up pf Ramsey, Tonali and Willock will have to step up on their last two performances.

Eddie has to choose between Woltemade and Wissa who are likely to be paired with Barnes and Elanga. With Big Nick now without a goal since December and Wissa still not firing on all cylinders Newcastle's goal threat is not the strongest.

Defensively, mistakes are being made and any repeat could see Brentford's Igor Thiago add to the two goals he scored against us in the reverse fixture.

Newcastle have to win this game and I think they will.

I'm expecting it to be an evenly contested game that will be decided on the odd goal and that's why my usual fiver is going on 2-1 to the Toon.

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Pre-Match Posts: For previous match previews, tactical analysis, predicted XIs, team news and match predictions, visit our Newcastle United Match Previews & Tactical Analysis | nufc blog hub