Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes has been walking a disciplinary tightrope.

Newcastle United hope to start 2026 on a high by beating Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The Magpies defeated Burnley 3-1 in their final game of 2025 to record only their second Premier League away win of the campaign.

But at St James’ Park, Eddie Howe’s side are unbeaten in 10 matches, so they will be looking to take full advantage of back-to-back home games against Palace and Leeds United.

Newcastle head into the New Year 13th in the Premier League, four points below the top five.

Newcastle United eyeing back-to-back Premier League home wins

“I think any home game for us is a positive,” Howe said. “We love playing at home, goes without saying. We've been really good at home for a long time, so we prefer to play there other than anywhere else.

“I think the travelling, especially during a hectic game schedule, the more you can minimise that, then that's beneficial for us.

“January will be a season-defining month for us and you look at the month as a whole, I think some great games for us and really mouth-watering occasions. But we've got some tough challenges ahead and certainly the start to the month needs to be a fruitful one for us.

“We're in there fighting and scrapping for every point that we can in the Premier League. It's been a difficult season so far, It's not been plain sailing for us, but the points gap is minimal.

“If we can put a run together, it's a big if, it's that magic word, consistency. Being able to back up results, which has probably been our failing this season. That's what we're looking to do. If we can, things can change quickly and the perspective can be very different.

“We haven't been able to do it yet, but this is the moment. We're running out of opportunities because beyond this I don't think we'll get another chance. I think our focus is there and the performance levels have been pretty good for a while.”

Bruno Guimaraes & Joelinton boost ahead of Crystal Palace clash

Newcastle have been hit with a number of injuries to their defence in recent months, leaving them with just three fit senior defenders - Malick Thiaw, Fabian Schar and Lewis Hall.

But as they enter the New Year, the situation is close to easing with Howe suggesting Kieran Trippier, Tino Livramento and Sven Botman could return to the squad against Palace.

There is also another boost within the squad with captain Bruno Guimaraes no longer walking a disciplinary tightrope.

For the last three matches, Guimaraes has been one yellow card away from serving an automatic suspension with Premier League rules stating that any player booked five times in their club’s opening 19 matches will be banned for one game.

Joelinton joined his fellow Brazilian on four yellow cards for the season after he was booked in the win at Burnley, but the threshold has now increased to 10 bookings in 32 games, meaning neither is at risk of an immediate ban.