'It wouldn't shock me': Paul Merson makes huge claim as he predicts the score between Fulham and Newcastle

Newcastle United are gearing up for their second successive away game as they head to the Capital to take on Fulham in a traditional 3pm Saturday kick-off.

The Magpies go into the game still undefeated after turning things around against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday while Fulham, I think, are still playing out their penalty shoot-out with Preston North-End in the Carabao Cup.

The Cottagers were eventually dumped out of the competition on Tuesday night after an amazing penalty shootout which ended 16-15 in Preston's favour.

Whether this will have any effect on Marco Silva's side going into Saturday's game remains to be seen, but Newcastle have had a week off due to the Carabao Cup's fixtures being split over a two week period so they should be more fresh.

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Paul Merson isn't predicting a good day for Newcastle

Regardless of Tuesday's crazy penalty shootout, Paul Merson believes Fulham will give Newcastle a game on Saturday and he wrote for Sportskeeda that he expects the Magpies' luck to run out.

"I can't believe Newcastle have got as many points as they've got so far this season. They aren't even playing well and they still have 10 points from four games. Tottenham should've beat them, Southampton could've beat them, same with Bournemouth and even Wolves. All these teams coul've beat Newcastle and they could've been on no points - yet somehow they still have three wins and a draw.

"Sooner or later, these worrying performances will start affecting Newcastle. It wouldn't shock me if they lose to Fulham at Craven Cottage. The Magpies' luck could finally run out here.

"Prediction: Fulham 2-1 Newcastle"

If Alexander Isak misses the game Newcastle could be in trouble

If Newcastle do end up losing on Saturday it's more likely going to be down to a lack of a striker with Alexander Isak now a huge doubt for the game and Callum Wilson still injured.

Newcastle have shown this season that they don't have to play well to win, and as hard as it is to watch, if the team plays pure toilet all season but keeps grinding out results, then that's fine by us.

It's when the scores match the performance as Merson suggests that we will start to have a problem. Hopefully, this won't happen on Saturday.