One of the biggest surprises this season has been the form of Bournemouth, they were expected to be in the top half of the table, but so far find themselves in 19th position with just seven points. Contrary to that, Newcastle have found a way to pick up regular points and are doing better than many expected them to. If these two had their positions swapped around then no one would think the league table was wrong. Surely Bournemouth will come good at some point, but at the minute they look miles away from the team they are capable of being. Newcastle on the other hand continue to grind out points to stay in the top half of the division. Newcastle will see this as a game they can win and will no doubt head into it looking to play attacking football and pick up three points.
Premier League – St. James’ Park, Newcastle upon Tyne Yanji – Saturday 4th November – 15:00 UK Time
|
Draw Best Odd of: 13/5 at Betfair |
|
Newcastle
BournemouthNewcastle Form
Newcastle have picked up points from six of their ten games, with four wins and two draws. They have only won one of their last five games, but with two draws on top of that, they have managed to stay in the top half of the table. Many teams are in behind them looking to overtake them and they are going to have to pick up another couple of wins soon if they are to stay ahead.
Newcastle have been involved in a lot of low scoring games, and their last two games have been typical of their season so far. They won 1-0 two weeks ago against Crystal Palace, before losing 1-0 to Burnley on Monday night. They do not score many goals, but also do not concede many and Newcastle games are often very tight, cagey affairs.
Despite being good in defence, the lack of goals will worry Rafa Benitez a little, and it seems apparent that he is yet to discover just what his best attacking line up is. He continues to change things around and makes many attacking substitutions during games, if he does find the right formula then that makes Newcastle and instantly better team due to their good defensive play.
Bournemouth Form
Things just haven’t gone right for Bournemouth and after many people predicted them to finish in the top half, with 7th looking like a real possibility, they have struggled and find themselves in 19th. Of course this isn’t good enough and when you look at the squad they have, they should be doing a lot better than they are.
Things could be looking up though, they beat Stoke 2-1 two weeks ago and only lost 1-0 against Chelsea last weekend. They could really have done without that Chelsea game sandwiched in between Stoke and Newcastle, as that would have sent them up to Newcastle on the back of a win. Regardless of that though, they have played much better over the past couple of weeks and hopefully for their fans this is a sign that thing are beginning to turn around for them.
Team News
Newcastle will no doubt continue to look for their right attacking system and who knows who will play in attack for them this week. Joselu and Christian Atsu were given the chance to play on Monday, but neither made much of an impact and maybe a change is coming. Junior Stanislas has provided Bournemouth with a credible attacking threat in recent weeks and he will be key to them performing going forward yet again. If they can get him playing on a regular basis then he could be the spark to lift them up the table and towards safety.
Top Betting Tips
Newcastle go into this game as favourites and rightly so because they have shown a lot more than Bournemouth in recent weeks. If Bournemouth play to the best of their ability then I don’t think there is too much between these two teams, but I am not prepared to back Bournemouth until I have seen them string together a few more good performances. Due to that, Newcastle are the bet for me in this game, priced up at evens with Betfair and Stan James. This is a fair price and they are sure to attack in this game as they look to stay in the top half of the Premier League table. Bournemouth have the ability, but until I have seen more from them I am not prepared to back them, and that makes Newcastle the bet in this game on Saturday.