Newcastle United will entertain Crystal Palace at St. James’ Park on Saturday afternoon hoping to bounce back from their 2-0 defeat against Arsenal with a win. Despite that defeat, the Magpies have enjoyed a rich vein of form in the Premier League before the international break and would fancy their chances of getting a favourable result versus the Eagles this weekend.
Both teams are expected to name their strongest teams, so this league encounter has the makings of an exciting contest between two mid-table sides going all out for the victory. Rafael Benitez will stick with his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation and might name an unchanged team for this clash.
3-4-2-1 Newcastle United Predicted Lineup To Face Crystal Palace
Defence
Martin Dúbravka will lineup as Benitez’s first-choice keeper once again despite shipping in two goals against the Gunners on Monday night. Newcastle could start with the back three of Paul Dummett, Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Lejeune as they look to keep things stable at the back versus the Eagles. They would need to find a way to keep Wilfried Zaha and Michy Batshuayi quiet on Saturday afternoon.
The Magpies defenders have conceded two goals in each of their last three league outings so Benitez would hope that they can improve on that poor record this weekend.
Midfield
Mohamed Diame and Isacc Hayden might get the nod to feature at the middle of the park as they look to stop the Palace midfielders from getting a stranglehold in the game. Matt Ritchie will resume his playmaking duties on the left flank while DeAndre Yedlin looks to his pace to get to the by-line down the right channel.
Ritchie managed to grab a goal against Bournemouth a few weeks ago so he will be confident about making a positive impact in this game going forward.
Attack
Both Miguel Almiron and Ayoze Perez could play on the shoulders of Salomon Rondon who is expected to lead the line for the Tyneside outfit up front. The Venezuelan forward failed to find the back of the net against Arsenal last weekend so he would be hoping to return to his goal-scoring ways versus the Eagles on Saturday.
