Paul Merson gives his Newcastle United verdict | OneFootball

Paul Merson speaking as Eddie Howe’s team are preparing to travel to Selhurst Park.

A 3pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon.

Newcastle having won three matches in a row against Chelsea, Arsenal and Forest, before Monday night’s defeat to West Ham.

Paul Merson discussing the possibilities for Newcastle United in this match away against Crystal Palace.

Paul Merson talking to Sportskeeda ahead of Crystal Palace v Newcastle:

“When you talk about results from last weekend, the one that I did not see coming was Newcastle losing to West Ham.

“I was expecting them to turn up and win easily.

“That is a really bad loss for Newcastle in my opinion.

“It baffles me how they ended up losing to that West Ham team!

“They [Newcastle] now face Crystal Palace, who I thought were really good away from home against Aston Villa last time out.

“They looked like a serious threat on the counter and used pace to their advantage. You could say Palace rode their luck at times in that game, but so did Villa.

“Palace are 19th at the moment and will now face an uphill battle to avoid relegation.

“Southampton are the only team with fewer goals than them this season, so that’s an area where they must improve if they want to survive in this division.

“I can definitely see Newcastle scoring in this game, but I have a feeling Palace can match them.

“Prediction: Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 2”

So is Paul Merson on the right track here?

Well, the big story with Crystal Palace, is how badly they have struggled at Selhurst Park to score goals.

They scored twice in a 2-2 home draw with Leicester.

However, Palace have only scored one goal in their other five Premier League home games (Palace’s three home PL goals is easily the lowest of all the 20 clubs, the next lowest is five).

Paul Merson claiming Crystal Palace will score twice in this game is a ‘brave’ forecast.

Palace have clearly missed Olise a lot and with Eze out injured, their two biggest creative forces now missing.

Interesting to look back at what Paul Merson had to say before the last three Newcastle United matches…

“I feel they [Newcastle] are too open at the back and good teams can always pick them apart. Arsenal win for me in this one!”

“I just haven’t seen enough from them [Newcastle] to think they will outplay Forest away from home on current form. Prediction: Nottingham Forest 2 Newcastle 1.”

“It has Newcastle written all over it. I’m backing the hosts to slaughter West Ham and become a strong candidate in the race for top four. Prediction: Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 0″

My gut feeling is that Paul Merson will make it four in a row with his (wrong!) NUFC predictions. I fancy Newcastle to get the first goal and go on from there to win, just so long as no soft set-piece goals conceded as we saw against Forest and West Ham.

Newcastle United upcoming matches confirmed to end of January 2025:

Saturday 30 November – Crystal Palace v Newcastle (3pm)

Wednesday 4 December – Newcastle v Liverpool (7.30pm) Amazon

Saturday 7 December – Brentford v Newcastle (3pm)

Saturday 14 December – Newcastle v Leicester (3pm)

Wednesday 18 December – Newcastle v Brentford (7.45pm) Sky Sports+ (Carabao Cup)

Saturday 21 December – Ipswich v Newcastle (3pm)

Thursday 26 December – Newcastle v Villa (3pm) Amazon

Monday 30 December – Man U v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 4 January – Tottenham v Newcastle (12.30pm) TNT Sports

Wednesday 15 January – Newcastle v Wolves (7.30pm) TNT Sports

Saturday 18 January – Newcastle v Bournemouth (12.30pm) TNT Sports