English Premier League match preview: In-form Newcastle United to take on Bournemouth for a chance for a Champions League spot at St James Park on Saturday lunchtime.
The Magpies and the Cherries have not faced each other since the 1st of September last year when they played out a 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium.
Newcastle will strive to claim a 10-game club record across all competitions when they meet Bournemouth at the weekend following on from a fantastic 3-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday night.
The premier league’s leading marksman Alexander Isak continued with his goal streak making him the fourth player to score in the last eight matches after scoring either side of the break before setting up a Gordon for the third and score his fifth in as many games for the magpies.
Newcastle, currently fourth in the table, five points below Arsenal in second position and nine points off Liverpool who has a game in hand, will warm for the chance to return to St James’ Park where they have claimed victory in each of their last five matches – the last three that was against the Premier League with a goal difference of 10:0.
Still, the Magpies have never secured a clean sheet win in the Premier League against Bournemouth at home in six matches while their last two home meetings were in February 2024; 2-2 & September 2022; 1-1.
It had been three days since Bournemouth thrashed West Bromwich Albion 5-1 in an FA Cup third round before sharing a 2-2 English Premier League tie with Chelsea, thus making the Cherries go ten-present unbeaten across all competitions (W6 D4).
Bournemouth faces a tough challenge to maintain their spot in the top eight, with tough upcoming matches against Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, and table-toppers Liverpool. However, their impressive five-game unbeaten streak on the road, where they’ve scored at least twice in each match, should give them a boost ahead of their trip to St James' Park this weekend.
That said, the Cherries have struggled in their recent Premier League visits to Newcastle, failing to secure a win in their last four encounters there. Plus, their record in early kickoffs isn’t great—they’ve lost eight of their last 11 12:30pm matches, including all four away games in this stretch.
With goals from Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo, the Cherries looked poised to win all six games at Stamford Bridge. However, Reece James' goal in the 95th minute forced both teams to share the spoils, resulting in Bournemouth's fourth league draw in their last six games.
Although Andoni Iraola's team lost the opportunity to close the gap to Newcastle in fourth place by two points, they are still four points behind the Magpies and are still in the running to qualify for the Champions League next season, something that not even the most devoted Bournemouth fans could have predicted at the start of the season.
Since Adam Smith (unspecified) is still doubtful, Lewis Cook may be expected to start at right-back once more, with Kluivert occupying the number 10 position and Ryan Christie playing a deeper midfield role with Tyler Adams.
Semenyo and Dango Ouattara will switch between the left side and the center-forward position in a fluid frontline. Daniel Jebbison, who was just brought back from his Watford loan, will give attacking backup as a replacement, while David Brooks will likely continue to play on the right wing.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, meanwhile, is available to return on Saturday and is anticipated to take Mark Travers' spot in goal. He was ineligible to play against parent club Chelsea in the middle of the week.
