The 1-1 draw between Paris St Germain and Dortmund helped Newcastle revive their hope of passing the group stage of this year's Champions League. And it seemed that they did it with Joelinton's goal to give the Magpies the advantage over AC Milan. However, the goals of Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze inspired the Rossoneri to turn the situation around. In the end, Newcastle fell into a deadlock and could not secure a ticket to the Europa League play-off.
This is only the fifth time a Premier League club has been bottom of the Champions League. Notably, two of those came this season after Man United also finished bottom of Group A.
In the Premier League, things are not much better for Newcastle. Before the injury storm, Eddie Howe's team had lost 2 consecutive matches against Everton and Tottenham. The Magpies have lost more this season than they have in the previous season. They entered the 17th round with 7 points behind the Top 4.
Howe has at least been able to welcome some players back to training in recent days, with Callum Wilson, Sean Longstaff and Dan Burn. Wilson's return is a special boost for Newcastle. Of all players to have made at least 20 shots in the Premier League this season, Wilson has the highest conversion rate (31.8%, 7 goals after 22 shots).
However, Newcastle still have many absentees with Nick Pope, Jacob Murphy, Sven Botman, Joe Willock, Elliot Anderson and Harvey Barnes all injured. Meanwhile, Kieran Trippier is suspended after receiving 5 yellow cards.
Trippier's total of seven Premier League assists this season are tied with Pedro Neto and Mohamed Salah. Matt Ritchie is the last Newcastle player to have more assists in a season with 8 times.
Newcastle will face Premier League promising Fulham. 5-0 victories over Nottingham Forest and West Ham have taken Marco Silva's side to the top half of the table. They will travel to St James' Park with full confidence.
Fulham have the chance to become the third team in the Premier League to score 5 or more goals in 3 consecutive matches, after Chelsea (May - August 2010) and Man City (September 2017). Fulham have scored 16 goals in their last 4 Premier League matches, 1 more than the previous 15 matches combined.
A typical example of Fulham's explosive attack is striker Raul Jimenez, who has scored 3 goals in the last 2 matches in the tournament - the number as many as 43 previous matches. The striker last scored in 3 consecutive matches at Wolves in November 2019. And the third of that run against Bournemouth under Howe.
Jimenez will be supported by Willian, who has scored three goals and provided one assist in his last four Premier League appearances. No Fulham player has scored and assisted more goals and provided more assists than the Brazilian this season, while he is the only player in the team to have made at least 20 shots and created at least 20 chances.
Andreas Pereira, Tom Cairney and Alex Iwobi are likely to start, along with Harry Wilson as a super sub.
In terms of head-to-head record, Newcastle are unbeaten in their last 6 matches against Fulham in the Premier League (4 wins, 2 draws) and are on a streak of 3 consecutive wins. Alexander Isak scored the only goal when the two teams last met in January.
Fulham have always had a hard time traveling to the Northeast of England, having failed to win in their last seven Premier League games at St James' Park. The last time they won against their opponent was in May 2009 with a score of 1-0.
The difference between Newcastle's home and away form this season is very clear. They have only earned 5 away points this season (1 win, 2 draws, 5 losses). However, Newcastle have won their last 6 matches at St James' Park.
Meanwhile, Fulham have not won in 7 away matches since defeating Everton 1-0. The last time they went through a longer winless streak was at the beginning of the 2018-2019 season.
The match between Newcastle and Fulham takes place at 22:00 on December 17 (Vietnam time), live on K+.
