Newcastle United will hope their impressive form against Fulham continues when they visit Craven Cottage this afternoon (kick-off 3pm).
Eddie Howe’s side have beaten the Cottagers twice already this campaign, winning 3-0 in the Premier League meeting at St James’ Park in December before recording a 2-0 victory in the FA Cup last month.
In total, the Magpies are unbeaten in their last nine matches against Fulham, including five wins in a row. As it stands, five positions and the same number of points separates the two teams in the table.
United sit eighth, one behind seventh place West Ham United in the final European qualification spot. And in order to achieve that, Howe knows his side must build some consistency having last won back-to-back league games at the beginning of December.
“When you look back to last season and early season form for us, we were very consistent and won groups of games regularly, and transforms your season when you’re able to do that,” Howe told NewcastleWorld.
“We haven’t done that lately and that’s been a concern and frustration for us, we can’t seem to just build that solid momentum but I think a lot of that is due to the reasons we’ve already discussed [injuries].”
Newcastle head to Craven Cottage without a number of key players, although are boosted by the return of Anthony Gordon who missed the midweek draw against Everton through suspension.
Here, we take a look at the latest injury news from camps:
1. Sandro Tonali - out
Tonali is banned from football until August for illegal betting offences.
2. Sven Botman - out
Botman is ruled out for six to nine months with an ACL injury.
3. Jamaal Lascelles - out
Lascelles sustained an ACL injury against West Ham and joins Botman in being sidelined between six to nine months.
4. Lewis Miley - out
Miley's season is over after the 17-year-old picked up a back injury away with England under-19s last month.