Newcastle United return to Premier League action on Saturday evening as they take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Gary O'Neil will be feeling good after getting one over on his previous employers Bournemouth, who parted company with him at the end of the season despite him doing a brilliant job.
The Magpies meanwhile are coming off the back of a disappointing evening in the Champions League where they narrowly lost to Borussia Dortmund and suffered a couple of major injury blows.
Eddie Howe has a good track record of picking up his team after a defeat and getting them back on track, though.
And, with that in mind, Chris Sutton is leaning the way of the Magpies in his prediction for the BBC:
"This is not an easy one to call - Wolves have put together a four-game unbeaten run and Newcastle have got a few injuries to contend with, as well as Sandro Tonali's ban for breaching betting rules.
I like the job Gary O'Neil is doing at Molineux, but the Magpies are defending really well at the moment and that is going to hold the key here.I am going with Newcastle to withstand a bit of pressure and bounce back from their Champions League defeat by Borussia Dortmund by nicking the points."
The pundit didn't go big with his prediction, however, opting for a tight 0-1 win for the Magpies as they return to Premier League action.
While we can see where Sutton is coming from, he's forgetting the point we made earlier about Howe's ability to pick the team up and bounce back after a defeat.
Yes, it's away from home, yes it's off the back of a difficult week with a defeat, Tonali's ban, and more injuries, but we should have too much for Wolves. It should be more than a one-goal margin.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
13 | 18 | 34 |
2 |
Arsenal
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
4 |
Brighton
|
13 | 5 | 23 |
5 |
Manchester City
|
13 | 3 | 23 |
6 |
Nottingham Forest
|
13 | 3 | 22 |
7 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
13 | 14 | 20 |
8 |
Brentford
|
13 | 3 | 20 |
9 |
Manchester United
|
13 | 4 | 19 |
10 |
Fulham
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
11 |
Newcastle United
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
12 |
Aston Villa
|
13 | -3 | 19 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
13 | 1 | 18 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
13 | -7 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
13 | -11 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
13 | -11 | 10 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
13 | -7 | 9 |
18 |
Wolves
|
13 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Ipswich
|
13 | -11 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
13 | -15 | 5 |