Newcastle have much to prove when they face Southampton

Will Newcastle finally claim their first victory of the season against Southampton tomorrow?

Newcastle United supporters and sympathetic pundits covering the Premier League are hopeful that the Magpies will claim their first victory of the season tomorrow. The match against Southampton truly is a must-win for Newcastle and Rafa Benitez is aware of this.

No one, not even the Spaniard himself, imagined Newcastle would be sitting rock bottom with zero wins heading into November, but tomorrow’s match presents the Toon with a great chance to revive their season. Southampton are a decent team, but they are also struggling, especially in the scoring department. Unlike Newcastle, though, the Saints have managed to secure points through one victory and three draws.

Kick-off will be at 3:00 PM and the clash between the Magpies and the Saints should  be fairly competitive. Both teams have under-performed this season and they will be looking to climb the table. Urgency and defensive stability are the two major attributes that will decide the outcome of this match.

Which Newcastle Will Show Up?

Based on which Newcastle side shows up, predicting the outcome for this match should be relatively easy. If the Newcastle side that played well against Manchester United shows up, the Magpies should win. However, if Newcastle continue wasting shot attempts like they did against Brighton, they will stay in the drop zone with two points.

With Salomon Rondon fully recovered from his thigh injury, Benitez would be wise to start both Rondon and Yoshinori Muto up top. Muto would give Newcastle extra pace on the front-line while Rondon would be more clinical in front of goal, especially with incoming crosses from the wings. Both teams have identical statistics when it comes to goals scored and goals against (six goals for, 14 goals against).

This actually bodes well for both teams and it makes it hard to predict a winner. Newcastle and Southampton have struggled defensively and this should translate to both sides getting multiple good looks on goal. Southampton are the fifth best team in the league when it comes to creating shot attempts,124, whereas Newcastle are the fourth worst team with 92.

Newcastle are the most desperate side in the Top Flight at the moment and the Toon Army can only hope that Newcastle stick to their attacking game plan. Benitez is confident in his job security, but from a neutral standpoint I have a hard time believing he will not be on the hot seat if his team drop three points on Saturday.

Newcastle should have won by multiple goals last weekend, but they suffered an unlucky, minimal defeat to Brighton. That loss should serve as motivation for Newcastle to play urgent, angry football against a vulnerable Southampton side. A win tomorrow could be the start of a great string of results, but a loss would simply be devastating.