Eddie Howe is able to take charge of his first game with the Newcastle United squad this weekend after his negative coronavirus test.
Unfortunately for the incumbent gaffer, his first game on the touchline will be against Arsenal.
The Gunners may not be the force they once were in the Premier League, but they’ve proven this season that they can be tricky opposition, and before their 4-0 loss last weekend, they had gone eight games unbeaten.
However, as Liverpool showed last week, Arsenal can be fragile, and if Howe gets his tactics right, he could guide the Magpies to their first league win of the season.
With that in mind, we’ve had a go at predicting Newcastle’s starting XI for this one.
We think that Howe won’t make too many changes from the side that drew with Brentford last week.
In fact, we only expect one change here. Jonjo Shelvey drops out for Isaac Hayden as we believe Howe may look to add more steel to the midfield against an Arsenal side that may find it easy to stifle Shelvey’s creativity.
Ryan Fraser once again has to settle for a place on the bench, but don’t be surprised if we see the Scot come on and make an impact against the Gunners.
Joe Willock may be a player to keep an eye on in this one as he’ll certainly be keen to get one over his former club after his summer move.
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