Alan Shearer echoes how Newcastle United supporters feel -

Eddie Howe’s men are looking to get back on track following a surprise 2-0 home defeat to West Ham United. Just as the Magpies looked as though their season had taken an upward stride, they came crashing back to earth with another setback.

Newcastle sit 10th after 12 games but face a team who have won just once in the Premier League all season. Disruption from losing star asset Michael Olise and speculation regarding Marc Guehi has snowballed into the Eagles’ campaign.

A valiant 2-2 draw at Aston Villa last week showed signs of improvement - with Palace aiming to build on their impressive home record over Newcastle. With that in mind, Toon icon Shearer has backed a draw at Selhurst Park later today.

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“This is a tough one to predict,” he told Betfair. “With what happened to Newcastle on Monday evening, they’ll have had a few days to reflect. 

“There’s a vulnerability about Crystal Palace, albeit they got a really good result last weekend against Aston Villa and perhaps deserved to win the game. I’ll go for a draw.”

Shearer also touched on United’s inconsistent start to 2023-24 - and cited the international break as a reason for the West Ham defeat. He added: “Newcastle are having an up and down season. 

“The international break came at the wrong time because they had a bit of momentum, were getting results and they didn't need the break. They didn't need players flying here, there and everywhere. Clearly that impacted them against West Ham because after 10/15 minutes, they were nowhere near as good as what they have been in the past month.”