Burnley's search for their first points of the 2020-21 Premier League season will continue on Saturday night when they head to St James' Park to face Newcastle United.
Sean Dyche's side have lost their first two league games of the campaign to Leicester City and Southampton, but Newcastle have picked up four points from their first three top-flight encounters this term.
Match preview
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Newcastle made an impressive start to their 2020-21 Premier League season, recording a 2-0 victory at West Ham United courtesy of goals from new signings Callum Wilson and Jeff Hendrick.
The Magpies could not build on the win over the Hammers as they suffered a 3-0 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on September 20, but they picked up a point in their last league game at Tottenham Hotspur courtesy of a late penalty from Wilson, which arrived after help from VAR.
Steve Bruce's side have therefore gathered four points from their three fixtures to sit 10th in the table, while they have also triumphed on three occasions in the EFL Cup this season, beating Blackburn Rovers, Morecambe and Newport County to progress to the quarter-finals.
Newcastle will be looking for a positive result this weekend ahead of the international break, particularly considering that their next game after this one is at home to Manchester United.
The Magpies are winless in their last two Premier League games with Burnley, though, suffering a 1-0 loss at Turf Moor last season, while the points were shared in a goalless draw at St James' Park in February.
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Burnley, as mentioned, have made a disappointing start to their Premier League season, suffering a 4-2 loss at Leicester City on September 20 before going down 1-0 at home to Southampton last weekend.
The Clarets were also dumped out of the EFL Cup on Wednesday night courtesy of a 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City, meaning that confidence in the squad will not exactly be flying.
Burnley's transfer business this summer has been modest, and it could be a difficult campaign for the club, particularly if they struggle to pick up results over the next few weeks.
Newcastle have lost each of their last three home games in the Premier League, though, while Dyche's side have won three of their last five on their travels, suffering just one defeat in the process.
Newcastle United Premier League form: WLD
Newcastle United form (all competitions): WWLWDW
Burnley Premier League form: LL
Burnley form (all competitions): WLWLL
Team News
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Newcastle's injury list is fairly substantial at the moment, with Martin Dubravka, Matthew Longstaff, Ciaran Clark, Paul Dummett, DeAndre Yedlin and Dwight Gayle still on the sidelines.
Matt Ritchie is also out due to the shoulder injury that he picked up against Tottenham, but Allan Saint-Maximin should return from the foot issue that saw him miss out against Jose Mourinho's side.
Joe Lewis is expected to replace Ritchie at left-back, while Joelinton is likely to keep his spot alongside Wilson in the final third, with Miguel Almiron potentially making way for Saint-Maximin.
As for Burnley, Jack Cork, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Ben Mee and Robbie Brady remain on the sidelines through injury, while Jay Rodriguez is out until after the international break with an ankle issue.
Matthew Lowton is also a doubt with the problem that he picked up against Man City in the EFL Cup, but key defender James Tarkowski made his return against Pep Guardiola's side and should be available.
Ashley Barnes is also available, having featured on Wednesday night, although it seems likely that Matej Vydra will again get the nod alongside Chris Wood in the final third of the field.
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Darlow; Manquillo, Lascelles, Fernandez, Lewis; Hendrick, Shelvey, Hayden, Saint-Maximin; Joelinton, Wilson
Burnley possible starting lineup:
Pope; Bardsley, Tarkowski, Long, Taylor; Brownhill, Stephens, Westwood, McNeil; Wood, Vydra
We say: Newcastle United 2-1 Burnley
Newcastle have only won one of their last three Premier League games with Burnley, while the Magpies were really disappointing in their last league game at home to Brighton. Burnley are struggling for results and performances at the moment, though, and we expect Bruce's side to collect all three points here.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home/Away:dataVideo prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Matt Law
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Newcastle United win with a probability of 38.9%. A win for Burnley had a probability of 32.67% and a draw had a probability of 28.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Newcastle United win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.28%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.98%) and 2-0 (7.4%). The likeliest Burnley win was 0-1 (11%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.24%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 3.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Newcastle United would win this match.
