Newcastle United can all but officially confirm their Premier League status for next season with a win over Arsenal, and a little help elsewhere, at St. James’ Park on Sunday (Watch live at 9am ET, on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com).
NEWCASTLE – ARSENAL STREAM LIVE
All the Magpies needs is a victory over the 10th-place Gunners, coupled with a Fulham defeat at the hands of 4th-place Chelsea, to go 12 points clear of the drop zone with a superior goal difference and only four games left to play. Considering they were only two points clear of the Cottagers when April began, Steve Bruce’s boys have done incredibly well to go 2W-5D-1L over their last eight games, systematically picking up a point here, three points there, and building toward what will soon be an unreachable number for the west Londoners. Unsurprisingly, the sudden upswing in results (from 0W-4D-1L to begin, before 2W-1D-0L most recently) has coincided with the return of Allan Saint-Maximin (1 goal, 1 assist and 2 man-of-the-match performances), who the club will desperately hope to hold onto this summer.
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And then there’s Arsenal, a dozen points off the top-four, in trouble in the Europa League — their last remaining path into the UEFA Champions League, and maybe any European competition, next season — and very few signs that better days are, in fact, ahead.
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Here is everything you need to know ahead of Newcastle – Arsenal this Sunday with team news, odds, stream link and more.
Team news: Newcastle – Arsenal (INJURY REPORT)
Newcastle: Dubravka, Ritchie, Dummett, Clark, Fernandez, Murphy, Shelvey, S. Longstaff, Almiron, Wilson, Saint-Maximin. Subs: Gillespie, Lewis, Krafth, Schar, Hendrick, Anderson, M. Longstaff, Gayle, Joelinton.
Arsenal: Ryan, Xhaka, Gabriel, Luiz, Bellerin, Elneny, Ceballos, Martinelli, Odegaard, Willian, Aubameyang. Subs: Leno, Soares, Chambers, Mari, Saka, Smith Rowe, Partey, Pepe, Nketiah.
Odds and ends (full odds provided by our partner, PointsBet)
Newcastle (+260) | Arsenal (+100) | Draw (+250)
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Prediction
Ride the Geordie wave, soak it all in and enjoy the fact the Premier League is simply better when they are good/competent — they’re a lot like the NBA’s New York Knicks in that way, as is the fact they’ve done lots of losing in recent times. The squad is too good to be battling relegation, to the point they’ve overcome the limitations of having Bruce as their manager. No small feat, that is. Newcastle 3-2 Arsenal.
How to watch Newcastle – Arsenal and start time
Kickoff: 9 am ET Sunday
TV: NBCSN
Online: Stream via NBCSports.com