Match Preview: Newcastle United v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford face Newcastle United at St James' Park in the Premier League on Wednesday evening (7.45pm kick-off GMT).

The west Londoners have won their previous five away games while the Magpies defeated Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final last time out.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before the Bees' latest test.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Midfield battle could hold the key to Newcastle contest

Brentford return to Premier League action on Wednesday aiming to extend their record-breaking winning streak on the road - and now seems the perfect time for the Bees to banish a long-standing hoodoo.

Since their promotion from the Championship back in 2020/21, the Bees may have beaten every top flight team they have faced at least once... but Brentford have a hex to break when it comes to winning at Newcastle.

Eddie Howe's Carabao Cup winners beat Thomas Frank's side 3-1 at St James' Park en route to Wembley and, after that defeat, Brentford's record at SJP stands at eight losses, one draw and one win... that solitary Bees' victory coming way back in 1934! Further, Brentford have never kept a clean sheet on the Magpies' home patch.

The Toon Army came out in force to salute their cup winners at a victory parade on Saturday, but Brentford will hope to puncture the euphoria come Wednesday night with a sixth consecutive away win.

Currently with more away points (15) than any Premier League team in 2025, Frank's side have a 100 per cent record on their travels this year, scoring 14 goals and conceding just twice, so they couldn't be in better shape to travel to Tyneside.

Newcastle have come a long way since Howe succeeded Steve Bruce as manager back in November 2021, though, and their home form has been incredibly strong under the former Bournemouth boss.

Since Howe took charge, only three teams (Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal) have won more league points at home than Newcastle and, notably, only Liverpool (29) have kept more clean sheets on their own turf than the Magpies (27).

There will be fascinating match-ups all over the park. Alexander Isak (who has scored every time he has faced Brentford in the Premier League) versus Yoane Wissa (on target in his last three outings against Newcastle) is a great head-to-head, for example, as is Dan Burn - the most aerially dominant performer in the top flight - up against Nathan Collins, the next best in this stat category.

However, it is the midfield battle between the two club captains - Bruno Guimarães and Christian Nørgaard - which could hold the key to the contest.

Fresh from signing a new two-year contract with the Bees, Nørgaard was his side's match-winner and man-of-the-match in the 2-1 success at Bournemouth prior to the international break, while Brazilian midfielder Guimarães delivered an all-action display to lift the Carabao Cup aloft at Wembley.

Nørgaard's excellence at recovering the ball is underlined by his 102 tackles and interceptions combined this term, while Guimarães leads the Premier League for through balls. Whoever comes out on top in that battle will have a big say on the result.

It promises to be an entertaining encounter between two sides intent on ending this season on a high.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Gtech defeat the turning point in Magpies' season

The picture was a lot different for Newcastle after they last faced Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday 7 December.

It left the Magpies on a run of four without a win and just two across the 10 games that came before it.

Eddie Howe called it "a strange sequence for us" and, while he might not have been under pressure from inside St James' Park, it was starting to mount outside of it.

But that game proved to be the turning point in their season, as they won the next nine games in succession; six in a row in the league - scoring 18 and conceding just one - as well one in the FA Cup third round against Bromley and two in the Carabao Cup, where they first exacted their revenge on the Bees in the quarter-final, before beating Arsenal in the semi-final first leg.

"Anything is possible but we have to get results and do it consistently," said Howe after the 3-0 win over Wolves on January 15. "We struggled in the early season with being in and out of form. This has been a really good run and propelled us to a really good position. We need to carry that on."

Alexander Isak was instrumental in that run. The Swede scored 10 goals across that run and now has 23 goals in all competition this term. In Hot off the Press, Chris Waugh referred to him as "one of the world's leading strikers" - that is not just an opinion but an inescapable fact.

Isak is already Newcastle's second-highest Premier League scorer of all time, with 50 from just 77 games - behind only the great Alan Shearer, who scored 148 in 303 for the club - so it's no wonder the board have reportedly put a hefty price tag on the 25-year-old's head.

One of those goals came last month at Wembley, when his sublime finish - moments after his first strike was ruled out for offside by VAR - secured a 2-1 win over Liverpool and the Carabao Cup, which ended Newcastle’s 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy. That secured him a permanent place in Toon folklore.

Back in the league, he has scored four in the last seven, but the bid for a second top-four finish in three seasons has lost a touch of momentum since the middle of January.

There have been wins over Southampton, Nottingham Forest and West Ham United, but heavy defeats to Bournemouth and Man City, and losses to Fulham and Liverpool, though the latter can probably be excused to an extent, given the Reds' strength this term.

With how congested things are in the top half of the table - only five points separate Chelsea in fourth and Bournemouth in 10th - their league position could well fluctuate significantly in the final weeks of the season.

But they have a potentially priceless game in hand and will be hoping success in the Carabao Cup can be the springboard to finish with a flourish and ensure they qualify for the Champions League again.

In the Dugout

Eddie Howe

Before turning his hand to management for the first time, Eddie Howe had a 13-year playing career as a defender, with all but two of his 312 senior appearances having been made in a Bournemouth shirt. He was, however, forced to retire prematurely at the age of just 29 at the end of the 2006/07 season.

By this time, he was already managing the Cherries’ reserve team, which he continued to do until September 2008, when manager Kevin Bond was sacked, concluding his time at the club, too.

Before long, he had been re-hired as a youth coach and, in January 2009, was appointed first-team manager after a short spell as caretaker, following Jimmy Quinn’s sacking.

The odds were stacked against Howe; Bournemouth were second bottom of League Two on New Year’s Day - having been handed a 17-point deduction at the start of the year. Yet, he managed to guide his team to 12 wins from the final 21 games, which saw them miraculously survive by nine points.

Howe’s side were promoted to League One the following year but, in January 2011, he left the south coast for Burnley, where he stayed until October 2012, before returning to Bournemouth to take over from Paul Groves. He, essentially, picked up where he left off, securing promotion to the Championship in April 2013 and to the Premier League for the first time two years later.

Bournemouth were relegated from the Premier League, after five consecutive seasons, in 2020, leading to Howe’s departure from Vitality Stadium by mutual consent.

After a 15-month break, he took over from Steve Bruce at Newcastle in November 2021, with the 3-3 draw against Brentford his first official game in charge, though he had to watch the game from a hotel room after contracting Covid-19.

Howe is currently the fifth-longest serving manager in the Premier League, after Pep Guardiola, Thomas Frank, Mikel Arteta and Marco Silva, and one of only 13 in the top four divisions to have held his post for three years or more.

He is also the 10th-longest serving Newcastle manager in history and the first to win a major domestic trophy since Doug Livingstone led the Toon to the FA Cup in 1955.

The Gameplan

With Chris Waugh, The Athletic

Chris Waugh, Newcastle correspondent for The Athletic, discusses how Eddie Howe's side is likely to look for Wednesday night's game.

"Newcastle will set up in a nominal 4-3-3, which will adapt and change throughout the game, but it should be similar to the pre-Christmas meetings," said Waugh.

"Lewis Hall is out injured at the moment, so Tino Livramento has been covering left-back and has actually done really well.

"Kieran Trippier probably at right-back, Nick Pope in goal, Dan Burn and Fabian Schär centre-backs and then probably the midfield three of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães who, when they are performing at their best, are up there with the best midfielders in the Premier League.

"Then Isak through the middle, Jacob Murphy on the right and Harvey Barnes on the left."

Last starting XI v Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final (4-3-3): Pope; Trippier, Schär, Burn, Livramento; Guimarães, Tonali, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Barnes

Read our full interview with Chris Waugh here.

Team News

Frank delivers in-depth injury update

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank delivered an in-depth injury update before Brentford’s Premier League meeting with Newcastle United.

Full-back Michael Kayode is available for selection having recovered from a knee injury, but midfielder Mathias Jensen is sidelined for the game at St James’ Park.

Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey and Gustavo Nunes featured in Brentford Under-21s’ 2-0 victory over Fleetwood Town this week, and while Frank revealed the trio are progressing well, Wednesday's game will come too soon for the trio.

Igor Thiago, Josh Dasilva and Fábio Carvalho are also unavailable.

Match Officials

Bankes to take charge at St James' Park

Referee: Peter Bankes

Assistants: Edward Smart and Nick Greenhalgh

Fourth official: Thomas Bramall

VAR: Craig Pawson

Peter Bankes will be the man in the middle for his third Brentford game of the season on Wednesday evening.

A Premier League referee since 2019, he has had the whistle for two Bees matches this term: December's trip to Stamford Bridge, in which he sent off Marc Cucurella after the full-time whistle, and the New Year's Day defeat to Arsenal at Gtech Community Stadium.

Bankes has taken charge of 23 games across the Premier League (17), Championship, FA Cup and Carabao Cup (all 2), dishing out 91 yellow cards, two reds and awarding five penalties.

Last League Meeting

Brentford 4 Newcastle 2 (Premier League, 7 December 2024)

Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade were all on target as Brentford battled to a first league win over Newcastle United since 1948.

Mbeumo cut onto his left foot and fired into the top corner to give the hosts an early lead before Alexander Isak headed the Magpies level three minutes later.

Wissa then curled home but, for a second time, Newcastle came up with an instant equaliser as Harvey Barnes drilled past Mark Flekken.

Collins got on the end of a long free-kick with a left-footed finish early in the second half before Schade dinked in the west Londoners' fourth late on.