Team news and stats ahead of Newcastle vs Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 8pm.

Team news

Newcastle head coach Steve Bruce will once again be missing several players for Saturday's Premier League clash with Fulham amid fears two are suffering from long-term Covid-19.

Midfielder Isaac Hayden and defender Federico Fernandez both played at Leeds in midweek after recovering from the virus, but more unnamed members of the squad are still unavailable - with two in particular unwell.

Defenders Javier Manquillo, Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Schar and striker Allan Saint-Maximin have been missing in recent weeks, but fellow frontman Andy Carroll is approaching full fitness after a calf problem, while keeper Martin
Dubravka is closing in on his return from a long-term ankle injury.

Fulham's Bobby Decordova-Reid faces a late fitness check ahead of the trip to St James' Park.

The 27-year-old forward has picked up a quad concern, and will be checked at the last minute ahead of the St James' Park encounter.

Former Newcastle striker Aleksandar Mitrovic will come into contention to start against his old club, as he continues to shake off recent injury issues.

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How to follow

Live Premier League

Newcastle vs Fulham will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 7.45pm on Saturday; kick-off at 8pm. Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app. Free highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

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Jones Knows prediction

Newcastle's haul of 17 points from 12 games is their best tally at this stage of Premier League season since the 2014/15 season, yet, their performances remain stodgy and lacking in attacking cohesion. Only Burnley have had fewer shots from inside the box this season than Newcastle (67) - a statistic which is a great barometer of how many good goalscoring opportunities teams are creating. The Toon are clinical but it's unsustainable.

After shipping five at Leeds, you can rest assured Steve Bruce will be setting out his stall for a clean sheet in this one.

I'm expecting Fulham to have plenty of territorial advantage at St James' Park. With such a lack of pace in the heart of their defence, Newcastle will play with their usual deep style against a very quick Fulham attack. That should yield plenty of opportunities for Fulham danger and Sky Bet have priced up them to have 13 or more shots at 11/8.

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Steve Bruce's side conceding a whopping 25 shots in the defeat at Leeds, taking their shots faced tally for the season to 196 - only West Brom have faced more.

Against teams that didn't finish in the top seven last season, Fulham have registered 13 or more shots seven times out of nine this season, which makes the 11/8 one of the most interesting bets of the weekend. In terms of an outright selection, Fulham can just edge what is likely to be a tight encounter.

JONES KNOWS PREDICTS: 1-2 (9/1 with Sky Bet)

Watch the Premier League live on Sky Sports

At least 146 Premier League games will be shown live on Sky Sports in the 2020/21 season. The Premier League has further increased the number of televised games this season from 200 to 231, with over half of the extra fixtures set to be shown live on Sky Sports.

Overall, Sky Sports will be showing at least 146 Premier League matches live throughout the 2020/21 season, continuing to bring you all the latest twists, turns and shocks at the home of the Premier League.There will also be two additional midweek programmes - one will be played across the weeks commencing January 11 and 18 and the second will be in the week commencing May 10. All of these games will be broadcast live.

You can also follow the action with our dedicated live blogs on the Sky Sports website and app, and watch free match highlights from every game shortly after full-time on our digital platforms and YouTube channel.

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Opta stats

• Newcastle are unbeaten in their last five Premier League home games against Fulham (W3 D2), with the last such fixture ending 0-0 in December 2018.
• Fulham have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League meetings with Newcastle, as many as they had in their first 21 games against them in the competition.
• Newcastle United have won their final league match before Christmas in 10 of their last 15 seasons (D3 L2) and are unbeaten in their last five (W3 D2) since a 0-1 defeat to Sunderland in December 2014.
• Newcastle are without a clean sheet in their last 10 Premier League home games, since beating Sheffield United 3-0 back in June. However, the Magpies have won three of their last five at St James' Park (L2).
• Newcastle are the first team to play all three promoted sides in three consecutive Premier League games since Manchester United in September 2014, who drew 0-0 with Burnley, beat QPR 4-0 and lost 3-5 against Leicester City under Louis van Gaal.
• Fulham are looking to keep back-to-back Premier League clean sheets for the first time since April 2019 (three in a row); the Cottagers have only two clean sheets in their last 43 away matches in the top-flight, though one of those was at Newcastle in December 2018.
• In their last match against Leeds, Newcastle conceded five goals in a top-flight league match against a newly promoted side for the first time since August 1958 against Blackburn. The Magpies have shipped 21 goals in their opening 12 league games, their most since conceding 22 in 2015/16, when they went on to be relegated.
• Fulham are the only side yet to concede from outside the box in the Premier League this season. In their last campaign in the competition, the Cottagers were one of five sides to concede at least 10 goals from distance.
• This is Newcastle boss Steve Bruce's first match against Fulham since losing 0-1 in the 2018 Championship play-off final with Aston Villa - he has, however, won his last four home league matches against the Cottagers.
• Newcastle's Callum Wilson registered his 10th goal involvement - an assist for Jeff Hendrick - in his 11th Premier League appearance for the club against Leeds (7 goals, 3 assists), the quickest English player to reach double figures for goals/assists in the Premier League for the Magpies since Alan Shearer in October 1996 (10th match).

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Pitch to Post Preview: Ancelotti and Arteta's first years assessed; Plus Gareth Bale and Dele Alli latest, and why Leeds could trouble Man Utd

This week on the Pitch to Post Preview Podcast, Peter Smith is joined by Sky Sports News reporter Alan Myers and Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith to analyse Carlo Ancelotti and Mikel Arteta's work at Everton and Arsenal, ahead of their one year anniversaries.

Who has done the better job? We also hear from SSN reporter Paul Gilmour on whether Tottenham will bounce back from a frustrating week against Leicester - and the latest on Gareth Bale's fitness and Dele Alli's future.

Plus Sky Sports feature writer Nick Wright assesses Man Utd's 3-2 win at Sheffield United and makes his Pitch for why Leeds could upset Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side at Old Trafford…

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