'I can see a few goals': Paul Merson predicts who will win on Saturday - Newcastle or Bournemouth

Newcastle United head into a weekend with a 3pm Saturday kick-off on the cards as Bournemouth come to St James' Park.

Eddie Howe welcomes his old club to the North East as he stitches together another starting eleven that will be missing an actual striker with both Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson missing through injury.

Bournemouth have their own issues with injuries and suspensions so they'll not be riding in on a wave of confidence either.

Merson is expecting goals on Saturday

Howe's record against Bournemouth could be better with only one win in four attempts against the Cherries, but we expect that figure to double by 5pm on Saturday.

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In his score prediction for Sportskeeda, Paul Merson mentions right off the bat that he's expecting goals and even though Newcastle will be without a recognised striker, there are still plenty of goals in the team as we saw this week,

"Newcastle got a really good result against Forest and I expect them to win once again this weekend. I can see a few goals in this one, so I'm going for a 2-1 home win.

"Getting into Europe should be the name of the game for Eddie Howe and Co. They are a bit behind the eight-ball in the race for a top-four finish, but they still have enough games to secure a spot in the UEFA Europa League or the Conference League. When Newcastle finished fourth last season, I thought it happened a bit too early for them.

"Had they got into one of the other two competitions, they'd have been more comfortable and might have even had a chance of going all the way. They haven't won a trophy since god knows how long and need to get their hands on silverware soon.

"Prediction: Newcastle United 2-1 Bournemouth"

Even when we're being praised we're being put down

Poor Bournemouth didn't even get a mention by Merson, but at least he thinks they'll get themselves on the scoresheet.

Although, we'd maybe prefer to go unmentioned rather than have someone point out, yet again, how long it has been since we lifted silverware.

It's a decent prediction by Merson, but we're expecting even more goals than that, although we have no idea where they're going to come from.