Newcastle United are moving further away from the UEFA Champions League places in the league, even though they are still involved in the competition itself, and now Brentford will visit them with the Premier League’s second-top scorer Igor Thiago (16 goals).
Newcastle United
A further problem for Newcastle United is the EFL Cup, from which they have only just been eliminated. They also lost the second leg to Manchester City 1:3, making it 1:5 on aggregate overall. Eddie Howe tried to come back into the tie by starting almost all of his key players, but only made the situation worse. To make matters worse, shortly before half-time Anthony Gordon, one of the most important players in his system, suffered a hamstring injury without any contact with an opponent. The timeframe for his return is still unclear, but one thing is obvious: we will not see him against Brentford.
Brentford
We will also not see Kevin Schade, who was sent off for a rough challenge, leaving Brentford down to ten men against a strong Aston Villa side in the previous Premier League round. The squad were fortunate that, before they were fully pinned back, they managed to launch a counter-attack which Dango Ouattara finished off with a goal. In the second half, goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher and the side, now sitting deep, had to withstand sustained pressure from Aston Villa: 1.36 xGA, 20 shots on goal and 10 corners. They were lucky that only four of those efforts were on target. And that was no accident. Three of their four away victories have come in their last four matches.
Newcastle United vs Brentford Prediction
Newcastle United, disappointed by the loss of the EFL Cup and of Anthony Gordon, will of course look to take the initiative, but their four-match winless run in all competitions does not inspire confidence. Even though seven of The Magpies’ nine Premier League victories have come at St James' Park, we do not fully trust them to succeed here. However, we do expect a high score, as in their previous five head-to-head meetings, all of which were accompanied by over 2.5 goals. It is possible that Brentford could even win again, but we will keep that only in our thoughts.
