Newcastle United vs Crystal Palace

St James’ Park is the venue as Newcastle United and Crystal Palace go head-to-head in an exciting Premier League showdown.

Newcastle United’s indomitable form after lifting the EFL Cup trophy last month took another victim as Eddie Howe’s side thrashed Manchester United 4-1 at the weekend to post their fourth consecutive Premier League victory. In doing so, Newcastle pulled ahead of Chelsea and Manchester City in an intense top-five race, seizing fourth spot despite having a game in hand on direct rivals. Another win in this fixture would see the Magpies leapfrog Nottingham Forest into third and take a potentially decisive step toward securing a second Champions League qualification in three years. Achieving that feat would see Newcastle win four straight home matches in the Premier League for the first time this season. Entertainment has been a common theme at St James’ Park lately, with Newcastle’s last nine home league outings featuring over 2.5 goals.

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace seemed on the verge of extending their unbeaten league run to six (W4, D1), only for Oliver Glasner’s side to turn a two-goal cushion into a 5-2 defeat at Manchester City last weekend. However, a top-half finish remains firmly on the cards for the Eagles, who pieced together a five-game unbeaten streak immediately after conceding five goals in a Premier League fixture last time out. Yet, St James’ Park has been a bogey venue for the London outfit, considering they’ve only won once on their six most recent visits to this stadium (D1, L4), failing to get on the scoresheet on their last four. Against this backdrop, Glasner’s charges have bagged 2+ goals in five of their previous six away league games (W4, D1, L1).