Newcastle United v Bournemouth preview ahead of today’s St James’ Park match

Welcome to the Newcastle United v Bournemouth preview.

Saturday 5th September and a 12.30pm kick-off.

Newcastle United have the opportunity to go top of the league by 2.30pm when facing Bournemouth at home in their fourth straight televised fixture.

The Toon will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season in front of an expectant home crowd.

Whilst Bournemouth will be looking to get their campaign back on track following late heartbreak against both Man City and Everton.

Form

Newcastle are enjoying a fine start to the season and are unbeaten in their three matches so far.

If they were disappointed to be robbed of two points on the opening day of the season then they didn’t show it when following this up with a 3-2 win in the League Cup. Even better was to follow a few days later when Tottenham Hotspur were put to the sword in a cracking away performance. We’ve scored seven goals so far and conceded four.

Bournemouth have only taken one point from their first two matches but that doesn’t begin to tell the tale of five points dropped from winning positions. A tremendous effort away at Man City saw the cherries 1-0 up for the vast majority of the match before succumbing to two goals in the last few minutes to lose 2-1. A similar story at home to Everton saw Bournemouth on course for victory until conceding in the ninety-first minute to turn three points into one. They’ve scored two goals so far and conceded three.

Last time out

The Toon travelled to Tottenham on Saturday evening and produced a tremendous 2-0 win. The first hour was a nervy affair with NUFC being grateful for a number of fine Hornicek saves before the move of the match put United ahead. A fabulous ball out of defence from Gonzalez on his debut allowed Dedic to head the ball in the path of Elanga who took a touch and turned before slamming the ball home off the post. More of this please!

Ten minutes later, a Lewis Hall corner was headed on by Woltemade for Wissa to flick home with his back to goal and send the away fans wild! Elanga has continued his brilliant start to the season and the new boys are already settling in well. It’s still early days for our new manager and important to stay grounded but the opening three matches have promised the start of something very special indeed.

Bournemouth hosted Everton last weekend and were devastated to once again concede a costly injury-time goal. Despite Everton having the better of the match, it was Bournemouth closing in on a crucial victory before conceding a ninety-first minute equaliser meaning they had to be content with a point.

Stat attack!

-Eight Premier League matches between the two sides at St James’ Park have seen two Newcastle wins, two draws and four defeats.

-Bournemouth have visited St James Park for two recent cup matches. United winning 1-0 in the League Cup in December 2022 on the way to Wembley and victorious on penalties in January 2026 in the FA Cup.

-The last four matches between the two sides on Tyneside has seen an astonishing eighteen goals.

Memorable match

In 2018, Rafa Benitez and his Toon side were hoping for a win against Bournemouth to achieve back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time all season. Thankfully this was the match that striker Salomon Rondon decided to announce his arrival at St James’ Park with a match-winning display. The game was only seven minutes old when he fired in a loose ball at the back post. Even better was to come near the end of the half when Kenedy swung in a cross from the left and Rondon did his best Sir Les impression to smash a header into the top corner and put the Toon 2-0 up. Bournemouth were able to pull one back due to an assist from future Newcastle player Ryan Fraser but Rondon continued to terrorise the Bournemouth defence forcing a number of fine saves and being desperately unlucky not to complete a hat-trick in a fine win for the Toon. Newcastle 2-1 Bournemouth.

Played for both

Christian Atsu made his Newcastle United debut in 2016 and was a crucial part of the team that won the Championship under Rafa Benitez who soon made his loan move from Chelsea permanent. He stayed at the Toon for five years, making over one-hundred appearances and scoring eight league goals. Previous to his time at NUFC, he was on loan for a season at Bournemouth but only made two League Cup appearances in a frustrating spell with the Cherries. Sadly, 2023 brought the devastating news that Atsu had passed away in the aftermath of an earthquake in Turkey leaving behind a wife and three young children. Rest In Peace.

Freddie Woodman played four league games for Steve Bruce at the start of the 21/22 season. Unfortunately, this coincided with three defeats and a draw with Woodman heavily criticised for his part in a 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford. He was demoted to the bench and then loaned to Bournemouth where he played just one match for the Cherries.

Matt Ritchie played for Bournemouth between 2012 and 2016 and scored thirty-one goals for the Cherries. In 14/15 he was voted the football league’s player of the season in a poll by ‘Four Four Two’ magazine. He signed for the Toon in 2016 and became an integral part of our midfield as we achieved promotion back to the Premier League under Rafa Benitez. He stayed for eight years and scored twenty-five goals. His last goal for the club came in injury time against Bournemouth as he rescued a 2-2 draw and celebrated in his usual style by booting the corner flag.

Managers

Matthias Jaissle after a 2-0 win away at Tottenham:

“Incredible, I’m really proud. We are really proud as a club and coaching staff to see a team on the pitch delivering already on a high level, totally committed to what we are doing. This is a good start so I’m really, really proud and it’s a moment to enjoy. We did well also last week. This was another step in the right direction against a strong opponent with huge signings during the window. This was something we were aware of but how we handled that challenge was amazing. We’re really pleased, not only because of the goals we scored but because of the performance and how we improved during the match. That should give us confidence to be able to adjust things and that’s what the lads showed, especially in the second half.”

Marco Rose after a 1-1 draw at home to Everton:

“It was a quite open game, quite up and down. We can get better in some parts of the game. It was not even a set piece for the goal because we had already cleared the situation, but I don’t want to blame anyone because I saw so many positive things. I am really thankful for the warm welcome and I really appreciate being coach of this team. Like last week, we would like to present our fans with a win, but we will have to wait one more week.”

Charity

Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.

For further info and/or to donate online go to Newcastle Foodbank

Prediction

Expectations have been raised by Newcastle’s excellent start to the season under Matthias Jaissle.

Anyone expecting a walk in the park this weekend mind could be in for a rude awakening. Bournemouth have been desperately unlucky not to take maximum points in both of their matches and will be desperate for a win. It’s always difficult to predict an early kick-off and I think we’re in for an even match. I think it’ll be 0-0 at half-time but we’ll have just enough to get the win over the line with two second-half strikes. Newcastle 2-1 Bournemouth.

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