Newcastle United will travel to the capital for their final fixture of the Premier League season, and Eddie Howe could be pushed to make changes against Brentford.
The Magpies will take their quest for a European qualification spot right down to the final 90 minutes in their last Premier League game of the season this afternoon, as they battle with Chelsea and Manchester United for a Europa League and Conference League spot.
Eddie Howe’s men failed to secure European football when they lost quite convincingly at Old Trafford against Man United earlier this week, but a trip to South West London this afternoon will give them a second chance to end the campaign on a high.
A Newcastle win would put them on 60 points following the final game, however, Manchester United can also finish on 60 points and a Chelsea victory at Stamford Bridge would see them secure sixth place comfortably as they can finish on 63 points.
Should Chelsea lose to Bournemouth this afternoon, there is an opportunity for Newcastle to leapfrog their Europa League spot rivals as they have a far better goal difference than the Blues, but will need to take all three points.
As a result, the race for the European spots is still wide open with many scenarios left to play out, but will Howe have his best players available for the clash with the Bees?
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the availability of star player Anthony Gordon who suffered an ankle injury blow during the 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Tino Livramento, Sven Botman, Jamaal Lascelles and Matt Targett are all unavailable for selection, which leaves Howe’s defensive selection process extremely limited.
Not only that, midfielders Joe Willock and Lewis Miley won’t feature in the centre of the pitch, however, fan favourite Joelinton could make his first start since January after building up his match fitness over consecutive substitution appearances in the last three games.
How could Newcastle line up against Brentford?
Nothing But Newcastle predicts that Howe will make five changes to his starting team that lost to Man United, though sticking with his usual formation of 4-3-3.
We expect to see Howe throw in a number of injury returnees for one final push to ensure the very best finish in the Premier League this season, so we do think that Nick Pope will FINALLY reprise his role in goal after recovering from surgery on a dislocated shoulder.
Not only will Pope replace Dubravka in a refreshed defensive set up, but Fabian Schar will return to the back four alongside Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Lewis Hall who all retain their spots in the starting eleven.
The third change we expect to see is in the centre of the pitch, as we predict that Brazilian powerhouse Joelinton will return to the line up alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff.
The fourth and fifth change could come in the attacking threat as doubts of Gordon’s availability continue to loom, in his place we expect Harvey Barnes to take his role on the left side, while Miguel Almiron occupies the right flank instead of Jacob Murphy, accompanied by their unchanged star striker Alexander Isak.
