Newcastle Fan View: Toon pray momentum from United win isn't lost

When we beat Manchester United I immediately looked at the fixture list to see who was next up and my heart sank when I realised the next game was two weeks away.

We could have done with a league game the following weekend but I worry that the 2 week break from football will have done more harm than good as the victory over Manchester United seems a distant memory now.

Newcastle United beat Bournemouth the last time we played them; it was the season we went down but a Perez goal meant we left the south coast with all three points. There will hopefully be a repeat result this Saturday but with news coming out that Jermaine Defoe is likely to be fit enough to play, that task will be a tough one.

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Bournemouth were in the relegation zone before Christmas but they have managed to pick up a few good results, especially at home.

They sit 10th in the league, 3 points above us with a similar goal difference and this goes to show how tight the bottom half of the table is. The victory over Manchester United was fantastic, if a little unexpected given our home form but a loss against Bournemouth could see them out of any significant relegation danger and put us right back in to it.

Like most Newcastle fans, I have done the Premier League predictor table and I have us finishing 14th on around 38 points – and I have been VERY pessimistic with our results! I personally think this will be enough and we need another 3-4 victories to guarantee survival.

A lot of fans, myself included, will be hoping for a victory tomorrow, especially as our next game is Liverpool away.

Rafa will no doubt be looking for a victory but I suspect he will set the team up to defend against a strong, physical and direct Bournemouth side. Bournemouth are incredibly organised under Eddie Howe but then so are we under Rafa.

The main injury doubt is Islam Slimani who has reportedly suffered a setback and will be out for a further 2 weeks. Call me a cynic but I am now questioning if we will ever see him play in black and white before the end of his loan.

As for team predictions, it is of course anyone’s guess under Rafa but I am going for this…

• GK – Dubravka

• RB – Yedlin

• LB – Dummett

• CB – Lascelles (c)

• CB – Lejeune

• CM – Diame

• CM – Shelvey

• LW – Atsu (I think Kenedy will be spared this one)

• RW – Ritchie

• CAM – Perez

• FC – Gayle

Prediction – a nervy 1-1 but another point towards survival (and a point more than I gave us in the league predictor!)