After back-to-back away games, Brentford return to TW8 this weekend, welcoming in-form Newcastle United to the Gtech Community Stadium on Easter Saturday.
Any thoughts that Eddie Howe’s Magpies might fade in the race for Champions League qualification have been firmly put to bed with four successive Premier League victories lifting them to third in the table heading into the final 10 matches.
Brentford’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Wednesday night means they sit in ninth.
The Opposition
Magpies flying high after four straight wins
Newcastle United hovered precariously above the Premier League drop zone in 2020/21 and carried on in the same uninspiring manner for the first half of 2021/22, albeit this time spending the best part of the first four months below the dotted line.
Midway through this period, though, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia completed a takeover – which had been 18 months in the making – that effectively made the club the richest in world football.
Steve Bruce was relieved of his duties as manager, Eddie Howe took over and the Magpies set about storming their way away from trouble, eventually finishing in 11th.
There was no scattergun approach in the transfer window in January 2022 and this sensible system has continued, with £60 million spent on Nick Pope, Sven Botman and Matt Target by the time the campaign started – a relatively modest figure given the Magpies’ riches.
Howe confirmed the club were looking to sign attacking players, too, but there was no panic and towards the end of August, they shattered their club record to sign Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad for £63m.
Three games after signing, the Swede was ruled out until the new year. And while that was a blow, they actually started to gain momentum very quickly afterwards. Having drawn five of their first seven, Newcastle won seven of the next eight before the World Cup break, scoring 21 goals and conceding only four.
Miguel Almiron’s unprecedented purple patch, which comprised of seven goals in as many games throughout October and the start of November, was arguably the highlight.
By the time of the World Cup break, Newcastle were not only in contention for Champions League qualification, but firmly in the title hunt, too.
They kept their spending relatively low key in January, shelling out a modest £48.3m, with Anthony Gordon, Garang Kuol and Harrison Ashby arriving from Everton, Central Coast Mariners and West Ham United respectively.
Since the restart, the Magpies have not quite hit the same heady heights, but Howe’s men remain prime contenders for European qualification, having lost just twice in the Premier League since 31 August, and reached their first final since May 1999 with a stellar run in the Carabao Cup.
Though they were eventually pipped to the trophy by Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United, it was some achievement, nonetheless, and an indication of the upward trajectory the club now finds itself on.
They approach 10 crucial matches that will define their season, but there is no doubting Newcastle – all but guaranteed their first top-half finish since 2017/18 and highest since 2011/12 - are only looking upwards.
The Gameplan
With The Athletic’s Chris Waugh
Chris Waugh, Newcastle United correspondent for The Athletic, discusses the Magpies’ Champions League charge, Eddie Howe’s preferred set-up and the players that Brentford must nullify on Saturday afternoon in Hot off the Press.
“Howe almost exclusively starts with a 4-3-3 formation and I very much expect that to be the case again.
“Isak will likely be the central striker, then, due to injury problems in attack, I think you’ll see Joelinton as the left-sided forward and possibly Jacob Murphy on the right, then a midfield three of Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff.
“This formation is very dependent on Guimaraes and Kieran Trippier pulling the strings down the right side.
“Newcastle are very right-side dominant in terms of attack because they have, arguably, the best person from crossing situations in the Premier League at their disposal in Trippier.”
Team News
Janelt could return having recovered from knee injury
Vitaly Janelt is in contention for Brentford’s Premier League game against Newcastle United having recovered from a knee injury.
The midfielder was withdrawn during the Bees’ 2-0 win over Southampton in March and has missed the last three games against Leicester City, Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester United.
Speaking during his pre-match press conference, head coach Thomas Frank confirmed that Janelt could feature against the Magpies.
Kristoffer Ajer (calf), Frank Onyeka and Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) remain sidelined.
Newcastle are staying in London, having won 5-1 at West Ham United on Wednesday night.
Howe admitted there are some aches from that game but doesn't feel United had picked up any fresh injuries.
With Joe Willock returning to the squad for the game at London Stadium, Emil Krafth (knee), Ryan Fraser (disciplinary) and Miguel Almiron (thigh) are the only players on the Magpies’ longer-term absentee list.
In the Dugout
Eddie Howe
For so long, Eddie Howe was synonymous with Bournemouth, but it’s at the opposite end of the country where he’s writing a new chapter in his coaching story.
Howe spent more than two decades with Bournemouth as a player and then head coach. He played 300 games for the Cherries, either side of a brief spell with Portsmouth, before retiring due to injury in 2007.
By then he’d already started coaching the Bournemouth reserve team. He was hired as a youth coach before taking over as caretaker manager at the end of the year.
In January 2009, Howe was awarded the permanent job, leading Bournemouth to Sky Bet League Two safety despite a 17-point deficit.
The Cherries earned promotion the following season before he made the move to Championship team Burnley in January 2011. Howe guided the Clarets to eighth and 13th before returning to Bournemouth in October 2012.
Howe achieved automatic promotion to the Championship at the end of the 2012/13 campaign before claiming the second-tier title two years later, lifting the south coast side into the Premier League for the first time in their history.
He kept Bournemouth in the top flight for five years but left the club by mutual consent in August 2020, after relegation to the Championship.
Taking over a winless-Newcastle in November 2021, Howe steered them from bottom to 13th by the end of the campaign and has taken them to a new level during his first full season in charge.
Classic Clash
Newcastle United 3 Brentford 3 (Premier League, 20 November 2021)
Brentford recovered from conceding an early Jamal Lascelles goal to pick up a point in a memorable 3-3 draw away to Newcastle United.
The Bees levelled within seconds of conceding the first of the afternoon’s six goals as Ivan Toney found the net.
Thomas Frank’s side went ahead through Rico Henry, before Joelinton scored the second of the Magpies’ goals just before the break.
A Lascelles own goal made it 3-2, but Newcastle responded and earned a share of the spoils when Allan Saint-Maximin scored a second-half equaliser.
It was a rip-roaring match that was helter-skelter almost throughout and, while the Bees fans didn’t get to go home with all three points, they certainly left the north east fully entertained.
Match Officials
Play-Off final referee Kavanagh in charge on Saturday
Referee: Christopher Kavanagh
Assistants: Wade Smith and Natalie Aspinall
Fourth official: Stephen Martin
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton
Chris Kavanagh became a select group one referee for the 2017/18 season after working his way up the football pyramid.
The Manchester-born referee started officiating in 1998 as a 13-year-old, plying his trade in local football, before being promoted to take charge of matches in the National League in 2012.
Kavanagh refereed in the Football League regularly from the 2014/15 season and made his Premier League debut in April 2017 as West Bromwich Albion lost to Southampton 1-0 at the Hawthorns.
This will be the 10th time Kavanagh has taken charge of a Brentford game. The Lancashire official’s first Bees assignment was a 4-1 victory over Huddersfield Town in March 2015, while his two other wins were both against Swansea City in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs.
In total, there have been three wins and one draw from Kavanagh's nine games in charge.
Newcastle United 22/23
289 fouls – 14th in Premier League
49 yellow cards – 13th in Premier League
1 red card – 8th in Premier League