Newcastle team v Crystal Palace predicted with three changes

Looking at this Newcastle team v Crystal Palace.

Eddie Howe and his team looking to bounce back from that unlucky late defeat at Anfield.

Crystal Palace have made a similar start to the season as Newcastle, in terms of some tough opening fixtures and whilst they have a reasonable number of points (five), they could and maybe should have had more.

Defeats at home to Arsenal and away at Man City (after leading by a couple of goals, sounds familiar…), plus draws away at Liverpool and home to Brentford. The sole win at home to Aston Villa, Gerrard’s side struggling early on.

So from our point of view, what can we expect the Newcastle team v Crystal Palace to be?

As a starting point…

This was the Newcastle team v Liverpool:

Pope, Trippier, Lascelles, Burn, Targett, Sean Longstaff, Willock, Joelinton, Almiron, Fraser, Isak

Not many (any?) would have predicted the Eddie Howe Newcastle team against the scousers and I think today’s against Palace is a tricky one to forecast.

This isn’t of course helped by the unknowns concerning fitness and injuries. Eddie Howe proving to be a master at keeping his options / plans confidential. Not a single journalist having a clue that Bruno wasn’t in the matchday squad at Wolves, until the team coach arrived at Molineux.

These past 13 days have seen a tough / physical set of four fixtures and the head coach used his squad on Wednesday to make some surprise choices.

Making certain assumptions on the injury/ fitness side of things, this is how I see today’s Newcastle team v Crystal Palace working out.

Nick Pope in goal of course, then also Trippier and Targett remaining in the full-back positions.

In the middle of defence, a bit more tricky to predict.

Jamaal Lascelles did ok at Anfield and after the game Eddie Howe indicated that Fabian Schar had been carrying some knocks. so could do with a rest. I think this game has clearly been prioritised over the Liverpool one in terms of being more likely to produce a win, so I believe Schar could have played Wednesday and will definitely start today.

Botman or Burn, Burn or Botman? This is a tougher one. Botman has been playing well but Burn was very good at Anfield and I think Eddie Howe will use the partnership today that served him so well in the second half of last season.

Joelinton will stay in and I have a feeling that Bruno Guimaraes has been expected to be ok for this one if missing Wolves and Liverpool, so my money is on the Brazilian’s return.

That leaves one space in midfield and probably between Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock.

Willock is the only Newcastle player to start all six games this season and he played the full 98+(!!!!) minutes on Wednesday night, I think he will drop to the bench. Sean Longstaff also played the full game against Liverpool and had probably his best game of the season so far and made the goal, he also played really well in this fixture last season, so I am thinking he will get Eddie Howe’s vote.

Alexander Isak has declared himself fit in interviews, so he will look to build on that exciting goalscoring debut. Which leaves two positions to fill.

Similar to Bruno, I think ASM has been expected to be back for this match and Eddie Howe has said that the pair of them are ahead of Callum Wilson in terms of returning to full fitness. I think / hope it was more of a rest against Liverpool than an injury issue, after a tough physical game at Wolves for ASM.

So with the Frenchman in this Newcastle team v Crystal Palace, in my opinion, I think Miguel Almiron completes the team.

He was good on Wednesday and whilst Ryan Fraser was decent as well, I think the Paraguayan stays in. He had definitely his best match last season in this fixture, scoring that brilliant winning goal. He is starting to show more signs of attacking intent in games, on top of his undoubted workrate, and having kneed in his first goal of the season in the last home game, I expect to see Miggy in the starting eleven today at St James’ Park.

Predicted Newcastle team v Crystal Palace:

Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Targett, Sean Longstaff, Bruno, Joelinton, Almiron, Saint-Maximin, Isak

So I think Eddie Howe will make three changes to the side that faced Liverpool, with Fabian Schar, Bruno Guimaraes and Allan Saint-Maximin coming in for Jamaal Lascelles, Joe Willock and Ryan Fraser.