Newcastle United makes their Saturday afternoon St James' Park start against Fulham to enhance their prospects for Champions League qualification.
Newcastle United has appeared virtually imperishable since December through their dominant 10-win streak across recent matches in all competitions although their 4-1 home loss to table rivals Bournemouth exists as their sole setback.
The Magpies secured their Southampton away victory 3-1 while their star player Alexander Isak scored twice to become the first Newcastle player to achieve five PL away goals consecutively while pushing his Premier League season goal total to 17.
Manager Eddie Howe praised his players' performance after conceding their opening goal at St Mary's Stadium because Newcastle United achieved 15 points from losing positions this season which ties them with Manchester City for most points from such situations but they now have four wins after trailing first in the 2024-25 season since 2002-03 (also four matches).
The upcoming matches of fifth-place Newcastle United include multiple challenging fixtures that begin with Fulham this weekend followed by an Arsenal EFL Cup semi-final home game and three Premier League matches versus Manchester City and Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
Newcastle boasts the most PL points (21) from their last eight games but they still maintain an unbroken record in their eight home encounters against Fulham (W5 D3 L0) with six clean sheets despite achieving five victories.
Marco Silva expressed frustration over Fulham's "cruel" loss and Manchester United's "very lucky" match-winning goal after their recent clash. Following the defeat, Fulham now find themselves in 10th place in the Premier League, seven points adrift of the top seven and eight points behind the top four, with 15 games still left to play.
Although Fulham has struggled at home, failing to win any of their last five league games at Craven Cottage, they've been more resilient on the road, losing just one of their last seven away matches (W3 D3). They have earned 16 points from away games this season, just two shy of their total from the previous campaign.
Having already defeated Newcastle earlier this season, Fulham will aim to complete a third Premier League double over the Magpies when they visit St James' Park this weekend, having previously achieved the feat in 2006-07 and 2008-09.
After losing 3-1 on the road in the rematch in September of last year, the Magpies will be looking for retribution against the Cottagers.
Despite having only three victories in their previous 12 Premier League games (D6 L3), Fulham is still holding onto the hope that they can qualify for Europe next season.
After defeating Leicester City 2-0 at the King Power Stadium two weeks ago, the Cottagers earned their first three points of 2025. However, they lost 1-0 to a struggling Manchester United team at Craven Cottage last weekend, giving up the only shot on goal they faced during the entire game 12 minutes from time. This was their fourth away victory of the season.
Nick Pope, who was an unused replacement in Newcastle's victory over Southampton after missing 11 games due to a knee injury, will now have to decide whether to bring back his first-choice goalkeeper or persist with Martin Dubravka in goal.
Regarding Fulham, Silva has stated that Reiss Nelson (hamstring) and Kenny Tete (knee) are still in the treatment room, while Harry Wilson will be out for around ten weeks after being told he needs surgery for a fractured foot.
