A 52,000 sell-out crowd at St James’ Park will not, as it turns out, get to see Eddie Howe take charge of his first Newcastle match, as a result of his positive test. Although Brentford have stumbled of late, they do possess Ivan Toney, a striker with a point to prove to the club that released him after deciding Toney was “not good enough”. Shortly afterwards Joelinton arrived on Tyneside for £40m and it will be intriguing in due course to see if Howe can unlock the Brazilian’s talent. More immediately he and his assistants must find a way to extract maximum points from impending home games against not merely Brentford but Norwich and Burnley. Louise Taylor
Saturday 3pm
Venue St James’ Park
Last season n/a
Referee Robert Jones
This season G3 Y10 R0 3.33 cards/game
Odds H 32-19 A 24-13 D 27-11
NEWCASTLE
Subs from Darlow, Fernández, Krafth, Schar, Manquillo, Lewis, Longstaff, Almirón, Willock, Gayle
Doubtful None
Injured Dummett (calf, unknown)
Suspended None
Discipline Y31 R1
Form DLLDLD
Leading scorer Wilson 4
BRENTFORD
Subs from Cox, Sheppard, Goode, Forss, Thompson, Ghoddos, Valencia, Jeanvier, Onyeka, Fosu, Peart-Harris, Baptiste, Bidstrup, Roerslev, Zamburek, Racic
Doubtful Wissa (ankle), Jørgensen (knock), Baptiste (shoulder)
Injured Sørensen (knee, Dec), Ajer (hamstring, Jan), Raya (knee, Apr), Dasilva (hip, unknown)
Suspended None
Discipline Y19 R1
Form DWLLLL
Leading scorers Mbeumo, Toney, Wissa 2
