Match of the Day pundit Mark Lawrenson has predicted that Newcastle United will have a share of the spoils when they travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley on Monday.
The Magpies make the visit on the back of two consecutive wins in the Premier League over Watford and Bournemouth before the international break, but their hopes of getting a third victory on the bounce have been dashed after the pundit predicted a 1-1 draw between the two sides.
He said that Rafa Benitez “would snap your hand off” if you said he would get a point away to the Clarets, even if United have built up the “momentum” recently.
“Newcastle built up a bit of momentum with their results before the international break and now they have got a run of games where they will expect to pick up more points,” he told BBC Sport.
“A draw at Turf Moor is still a decent result though – and I think if you offered that to Magpies boss Rafa Benitez now, he would snap your hand off.”
OPINION
Indeed, a trip to Burnley is hard for any team, so Newcastle can expect a pretty tough game when they make this visit. The hosts have had a mixed start to the season but they are definitely no pushovers in the top-flight, so United will have to mind how they go on Monday. But like Lawrenson said, Benitez would massively appreciate getting even just a point in this clash. His side have a relatively good run of fixtures leading up to Boxing Day, including this one – so they must make the most of them while they can. Salomon Rondon will no doubt be crucial to getting a result after the weekend if his display against Bournemouth was anything to go by – but Newcastle must not let Burnley counter attack after the Cherries did time and time again a few weeks ago. Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka arguably kept them in that game, and they must ensure that they do not rely so heavily on him this time.
