Newcastle United take on Leicester City at St James’ Park on New Year’s Day as the Magpies look to get their form back on track.
Steve Bruce’s Newcastle have suffered defeats in their past two league games, having been well beaten by Manchester United at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and narrowly seen off by Everton two days later.
Leicester had their own slip-ups recently, losing back-to-back games for the first time this season, although admittedly those games came against the champions Manchester City and runaway leaders Liverpool.
Yet the Foxes are back up and running since beating West Ham United on the weekend, a victory that saw Manuel Pellegrini’s time in charge of the Hammers come to an end.
Leicester are second in the league and will be hoping to keep up their charge towards automatic Champions League qualification, while Newcastle are 11th and can climb into the top half with victory.
Start time
Newcastle vs Leicester kicks off at 3pm on New Year’s Day (Wednesday).
How to watch on TV and stream online
The match will be shown live on BT Sport 2 in the UK, available to all BT Sport subscribers, and can be streamed online via the BT Sport website or the BT Sport app.
Team news
Joelinton is a doubt for Newcastle with a calf problem while Ciaran Clark, Paul Dummett, Jamaal Lascelles and Matt Ritchie remain out.
Jamie Vardy is back in the side after the birth of his baby daughter. Ricardo Pereira is expected to be available following a minor hamstring strain.
Confirmed line-ups
Newcastle: Dubravka, Schar, Fernandez, Lejeune, Manquillo, Hayden, Shelvey, Almiron, Willems, Joelinton, Muto
Leicester: Schmeichel, Ricardo Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Chilwell, Ndidi, Perez, Tielemans, Maddison, Fuchs, Iheanacho
Odds
Newcastle win 16/5
Draw 10/3
Leicester win 4/7
Prediction
Newcastle’s home crowd might be feeling a little worse for wear after the night before, and having rested his key players against West Ham I expect Brendan Rodgers to field a strong side capable of getting all three points. Newcastle 0-2 Leicester.
