Newcastle v Stoke 
Saturday 16 September, 15:00

Rafa to return to warm reception
The doom and gloom around St James' Park has lifted somewhat in recent weeks as the Magpies have won their last two games and Mike Ashley has put his hand in his pocket to incentivise his players to perform this season.
Obviously the fans and Rafael Benitez in particular would have preferred more activity in the transfer market, but the deadline has passed now and there isn't much that anyone can do about it.
A 3-0 win at home to West Ham got their campaign rolling and they followed that up with a 1-0 success at Swansea last week. They are up to 10th in the table and with Stoke, Brighton, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Burnley and Bournemouth all to come in their next seven fixtures - Liverpool represent the only top seven club - they will fancy their chances on not only maintaining, but improving their position.
As far as the team news goes, I very much doubt that the manager will change his side much after two wins, especially as the last one came away from home. Last year's top scorer, Dwight Gayle, has had his problems this term but new signing - and former Stoke man - Joselu is off the mark, and he will be relishing facing his old club.

Ease in fixture list to aid Stoke
The visitors are 12th in the table having taken five points from their opening four games. That might not be as good a return as their opponents on Saturday, but they have had a much tougher fixture list to date.
Mark Hughes' men have already had to face Arsenal and Manchester United, and they have come away from those matches with four points. Both of them were at home, but it's still an excellent performance to win one and draw one.
Their sole defeat this year came on the opening day at Goodison Park in a narrow 1-0 loss to Everton. Their only other fixtures this season were a 1-1 draw at West Brom in the league and a comfortable EFL Cup success.
Last year's flair men, Marko Arnautovic and Bojan have departed the club, but Jese has shown glimpses of brilliance and Eric Choupo-Moting opened his Stoke account with a brace against United last weekend.

Underestimate visitors at your peril
If you think that Newcastle are set to register their third straight victory you can back them at 2.42. A Stoke win is priced up at 3.45 and the draw is a couple of ticks shorter at 3.30.
I don't think there is much between these two teams at present. Overall I would suggest that the Potters will finish higher come the end of the season, but Newcastle have the home advantage here and that has to be considered.
Opta tells us that Stoke are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games against Newcastle, keeping a clean sheet on four occasions (W3 D2 L0).
I have to agree with Opta and although I am hesitant about backing an away win, I am happy to take a punt on Stoke Draw no Bet at 2.42.
This means that we get our money back for a draw, and that has to be more value than a Newcastle win at exactly the same price.

Don't expect too many goals
In the Over/Under 2.5 Market, the layers have had their say and they are favouring a low-scoring affair. The under is trading at around the 1.76 mark, while the over is as big as 2.28.
It's not hard to see why that is the case as the hosts have played four times this year and two of them have finished with just a single goal, while a further one has ended with only two goals. Their matches are averaging 1.75 goals each time and their top scorer from last year is struggling.
It's a similar story for the visitors as they too have had a couple of 1-0's and a game that contained just the two goals. Their 2-2 draw against United last time pushes their average up to 2.0 exactly, but that's still well below the 2.5.
I am certainly favouring under 2.5 goals myself as both teams will know that if they want to take all three points, they will likely have to keep a clean sheet.
Neither of them are blessed with an array of goalscoring talent and keeping it tight at the back is should be the mandate.

Ref Watch
Stuart Attwell is the man in charge at St James' on Saturday as he makes his second Premier League start of the year. Overall he has officiated three matches this year and he's only produced seven yellow cards.
Matt Ritchie leads the way when it comes to cautions in this game as he has racked up three already this season, which is actually a third of his team's overall total.
Those looking to back high booking points should also be careful because while Stoke can often be associated with being quite physical, they have only received three cautions across their four games.

Recommended Bets
Back Stoke Draw no Bet @ 2.42 
Back Under 2.5 Goals @ 1.76






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