Newcastle United are seeking back-to-back wins for the first time this season in the Premier League when they take on lowly West Bromwich Albion at St James' Park on Saturday.
The game has been given the go-ahead to take place despite a recent coronavirus outbreak in the Newcastle camp, which caused the postponement of last week's clash with Aston Villa.
Match preview
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A "significant increase" in COVID-19 cases led to Newcastle's training ground being shut down earlier this month, but the facilities reopened for full group training on Wednesday.
More than two weeks off between matches at this time of the year would usually be a good thing, of course, but Steve Bruce would have wanted last week's Villa game to go ahead.
The Magpies were coming off the back of a well-earned 2-0 win at Crystal Palace, with Callum Wilson and Joelinton scoring late on to secure a fourth league win of the season.
However, United have not won successive league games since football resumed in June and any momentum they had from beating Palace may well have been lost.
West Brom are hardly the most dangerous of opposition, though, the Baggies having collected just six points from the first 11 on offer to find themselves 19th in the division.
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Slaven Bilic's men battled to a big 1-0 win over basement boys Sheffield United a fortnight ago, but they followed that up with a crushing 5-1 home loss to Palace.
The Baggies had Matheus Pereira somewhat harshly sent off with the game at 1-1, much to Bilic's understandable frustration after the match.
It is now four losses in five for Albion, but they are one point behind Fulham in 17th ahead of games with Newcastle, Manchester City, Villa, Liverpool and Leeds United before 2020 is out.
West Brom won their most recent meeting with Newcastle in the Premier League 1-0 in April 2018, though they have not won successive games in this fixture since between 1977 and 1984.
Newcastle United Premier League form: LDWLLW
West Bromwich Albion Premier League form: DLLLWL
Team News
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Newcastle have not revealed which first-team players tested positive for coronavirus, or have come into close contact with those to have contracted the respiratory illness, so Bruce may be without some key men.
Ryan Fraser, Jamaal Lascelles, Allan Saint-Maximin and Andy Carroll would have missed the Villa game had it been played, though the extra week's rest could see each of those back in contention.
After his strike at Selhurst Park, Newcastle striker Wilson has been involved in 75% of his side's 12 Premier League goals this season - seven goals and two assists.
As for West Brom, Pereira's red card against Palace may have seemed a little harsh, but his three-match ban has been upheld by the Football Association so he will sit this one out.
Conor Townsend is also absent for around the next month because of a knee problem, but Kieran Gibbs is involved again after recovering from injury and Jake Livermore may also be back.
Conor Gallagher scored last weekend to make it goals in back-to-back games - the last English player to score three in a row for Albion in the Premier League was Geoff Horsfield in August 2005.
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Darlow; Manquillo, Fernandez, Lascelles, Schar, Lewis; Hendrick, Hayden, Shelvey, Saint-Maximin; Wilson
West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Johnstone; Ajayi, Ivanovic, Bartley; Furlong, Gallagher, Sawyers, Phillips; Diangana; Robinson, Grant
We say: Newcastle United 1-0 West Bromwich Albion
As well as failing to win back to back league games post-lockdown in June, Newcastle have also not kept successive clean sheets in that period.
The Magpies will be looking to put that right this weekend against an Albion side with just one point from a possible 15 on their travels this term, and we can see them coming out on top.
Top betting tip
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a West Bromwich Albion win with a probability of 47.49%. A draw had a probability of 26.9% and a win for Newcastle United had a probability of 25.61%.
The most likely scoreline for a West Bromwich Albion win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.09%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.28%) and 1-2 (8.95%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.62%), while for a Newcastle United win it was 1-0 (8.91%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 6.1% likelihood.
