It’s Newcastle United vs Brentford in the Premier League this weekend, and pundit Paul Merson has predicted who will win at St James’ Park.
The Magpies got their second win of the season last time out, beating Fulham 4-1 at Craven Cottage. While it is still early in the campaign, it was vital we got three points.
Pressure had been building on Eddie Howe to get a win. Before last Saturday, our only victory had been on the opening weekend of the new season.
But Newcastle got the job done last week, and moved up to seventh in the table.
Next up is Brentford, who will likely cause a trickier test. The Magpies were unbeaten against the Bees last season. We drew 3-3 in Howe’s first game as manager, then won 2-0 away from home in the return fixture.
Newcastle will be hoping to make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season, and former Arsenal forward Merson thinks they will do exactly that.
Paul Merson predicts Newcastle win vs Brentford
In his column for Sportskeeda, Merson has predicted every Premier League fixture for this weekend. And he expects Howe’s side to win 2-1 against Brentford in the 3pm encounter on Saturday.
“Brentford are on a run of two games without a goal, while Newcastle United completely and utterly dismantled Fulham last weekend,” Merson wrote.
“After Fulham went down to 10 men, the Magpies made their man advantage count, fair play to them. They moved the ball around well and scored good goals, so Eddie Howe would’ve been really pleased as we often see teams who fail to capitalize on a sending off.
“The Arsenal result has knocked Brentford sideways, so I don’t see them getting a positive result here. I fancy Newcastle to build on their good start to the season with a 2-1 win at home.
“If they get a top ten finish and an impressive cup run, it’ll be a fantastic full season as manager for Howe, who hasn’t done much wrong since joining the club under the new owners.”
2-1 win would do Newcastle just right
Toon fans will be very happy if Merson’s prediction proves to be correct. We need to start putting together a run of results, and back-to-back victories would do just that.
We performed well against Brentford last season, and will feel confident in doing the same this time. They have started the campaign in decent form, and currently sit 10th in the league. If they win on Saturday, they will jump above Newcastle.
But with a home crowd that will be toasting the one-year anniversary of the takeover and buoyed by last week’s result, Newcastle will go into the game as favourites.
Whether they win 2-1, 1-0 or 7-4, all that matters is getting a win. We have drawn games at home this season that we should have won due to our frailties in attack, but that cannot continue to be the case.
Newcastle need another win, and Merson thinks they will get it. Although he didn’t anticipate last week’s triumph, so let’s hope he isn’t wrong again…
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