Elland Road hosts Monday Night Football with two sides locked on five points, three games into the new Premier League season, and neither yet able to say they have truly arrived. Newcastle sit tenth, we're eleventh, split only by goal difference. The table's bunched up enough behind Arsenal and City that either of us could leap as high as third with a win tonight, which tells you as much about how early it still is as it does about either team.
We've been the tighter of the two. A 1-0 win at Forest to open up, then back to back 1-1 draws at home to Brentford and away at Brighton. Three scored, two conceded, Bogle, Calvert-Lewin and Stach getting the goals. The only blemish came in midweek, a 6-3 hammering at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup after Farke rotated heavily. He's already moved on from it. "Was a crazy game, can happen sometimes in the early rounds of the cup," he said. "More or less every shot felt like it was on target. Not happy but we've already drawn a line under it. Bigger games ahead." Three of the goals came from a single throw-in, which tells you most of what you need to know about how that night went.
Newcastle have looked more open under Matthias Jaissle, who took over from Eddie Howe in the summer. A 2-2 draw with Liverpool, a 2-0 win at Tottenham, another 2-2 against Bournemouth. Six scored, four conceded, Anthony Elanga their standout so far as the squad adjusts to life without Guimarães, Tonali and Gordon, all sold on. Farke hasn't met Jaissle yet but had warm words for what came before him. "I appreciate what Howe did. I think he left a legacy after so many years. Never easy for a manager to follow these footsteps." He also called them "difficult to beat," which tracks.
The head to head has swung wildly the last two visits. Twelve months ago at Elland Road it was as flat as this fixture gets, a 0-0 with Nick Pope's late stop from Calvert-Lewin as close as it came to a winner either way. The return at St James' Park in January was the opposite of that, one of the games of the season. We led three times through Aaronson and a Calvert-Lewin penalty, Newcastle hauled it back twice through Barnes and Joelinton, and then it all came apart in stoppage time. Guimarães levelled from the spot in the first minute of added time, and Barnes won it in the 12th minute of stoppage, the 102nd minute, the latest Premier League winner on record. Farke didn't hide from it afterwards. "In this moment I can't protect him from the criticism. He should have saved it," he said of Perri, who played his last league game for the club that night. It’s a different story this season with Trafford between the sticks.
We're close to a full squad. Rodon's still out with the hamstring injury from the Brentford game, expected back somewhere in the eight to ten week window. Joseph remains a long way off after the ACL injury on loan at Mallorca in April, and Gruev returned to action with the U21s this weekend on his road back to first team football. Okafor is the one most likely to change a game if he can get through to the final quarter, with Farke keen to manage his minutes carefully. "He has this X factor. We have to be careful at times. Important to give him more time to breathe." Bahoya, the deadline day arrival from Frankfurt, is still being eased in physically, and Bard is only just getting up to speed himself after a difficult full debut.
Newcastle's absences are a bit deeper. Joelinton, Burn and Osula are all out. Dedić, their near £30m summer signing from Benfica, is a major doubt after going off with a suspected hamstring at Millwall in midweek, though Jaissle called it not too serious. Livramento or Miley may end up covering at right back if he doesn't make it. Jaouen is also a doubt with an ankle issue. Hall has started every game since Jaissle came in and is central to how his side wants to play, while Fernández-Pardo, their late attacking arrival, is still waiting on his first start, with Jaissle stressing the need to be smart about when to throw him in.
