Newcastle face Fulham at St James' Park on Sunday in a clash of sides in contrasting form at present.
Magpies on a high, Cottagers still searching for first league win
Newcastle face Fulham at St James' Park on Sunday in a clash of sides in contrasting form at present.
The Magpies have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the campaign, including a morale-boosting 1-0 win at arch-rivals Sunderland in the league last time.
Alan Pardew's side then beat Scunthorpe in extra-time in the Carling Cup on Thursday to keep up the feel-good factor.
In contrast, Fulham have yet to taste success - or score a goal - in the Premier League under new boss Martin Jol, following up the goalless opening home draw with Aston Villa with defeat at Wolves last time.
Jol's side then slipped to defeat in the Europa League play-off second leg at Dnipro on Thursday but still qualified for the group stages of the competition following their 3-0 home success the week before.
Team news
Newcastle boss Pardew may be tempted to keep the same starting line-up which beat the Black Cats last time, with Joey Barton set to make his decision on Friday on whether to switch to QPR.
Hatem Ben Arfa (ankle) remains on the sidelines.
For Fulham, striker Bobby Zamora may return to the starting line-up after he missed the defeat to Wolves with an ankle injury.
Simon Davies and Bjorn Helge Riise missed the clash at the Dnipro Arena with knee and hamstring injuries respectively and Riise's brother John Arne now faces a long lay-off after suffering a 'serious' leg injury in that defeat.
Possible starting XIs
Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, S Taylor, Coloccini, R Taylor, Tiote, Cabaye, Barton, Obertan, Gutierrez, Ameobi.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Senderos, Briggs, Murphy, Dempsey, Etuhu, Duff, Zamora, Johnson.
