Newcastle vs. Arsenal: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info

Newcastle United host Arsenal in the first Premier League fixture of the weekend. It promises to be an intriguing battle between two teams whose league campaigns have yet to catch fire.

Newcastle have had some decent results this season but are still looking for a first Premier League victory. A win over Arsenal would provide a tremendous fillip and kickstart Steve McClaren's reign in style.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

Nevertheless, the portents remain good for Arsenal. The Gunners have won their last seven encounters with Newcastle, scoring 20 goals in the process. This is a fixture in which they generally perform well.

However, this is an Arsenal side struggling for fluency. In five of their last nine games, Arsene Wenger’s men have fired blanks. Newcastle will feel they have a genuine chance of keeping consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League for the first time since November 2014. Arsenal will have to be significantly better than they have been for much of the early part of this 2015/16 campaign if they are to come away with all three points.

Date: Saturday August 29

Time: 12.45 p.m. BST/7.45 a.m. ET

Location: St. James’ Park, Newcastle

Television coverage: BT Sport 1/BT Sport 1 HD (UK); NBCSN and NBC Universo (U.S.) 

Streaming: Sky Go (UK)

Form

Newcastle

D (2-2) vs. Southampton

L (2-0) vs. Swansea

D (0-0) vs. Manchester United

W (4-1) vs. Northampton Town

Arsenal

L (0-2) vs. West Ham

W (1-2) vs. Crystal Palace

D (0-0) vs. Liverpool

Given their respective ambitions, Newcastle might actually be more satisfied with their start to the season, despite not yet winning a Premier League game. Arsenal have struggled for consistency, particularly at home, whereas the Magpies have already secured creditable draws against Manchester United and Southampton.

A convincing victory in the Capital One Cup against Northampton has also given them some much-needed momentum ahead of the Gunners’ visit.

The Managers

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

New Newcastle boss Steve McClaren recognises that Arsenal will pose a serious challenge, but he seems to believe his side are capable of pulling off a shock. Having already secured a draw with Manchester United this season, he’ll relish the chance to pit his wits against a top-four team at St. James’ Park. He told the BBC:

"

To beat any of the top four teams you need to defend well, be compact and heroic.

We need to repeat that and be better on the ball especially at home where we need to keep the ball better than we did last week.

With a sell-out crowd behind us we can hopefully make it very difficult for Arsenal.

"

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, seems to think that a trip to the north-east could liberate his side. Arsenal have yet to win either of their home games this season, and Wenger seems to believe they are more efficient on the road. He told the same website:

"

Maybe we are not firing on all cylinders at the moment. By definition, finishing is a little bit cyclical and it goes in cycles.

Teams come and defend very deep at our home... at the moment we want it so much at home that we're trying to force it a little bit.

Our results away from home, with goalscoring opportunities and our finishing percentage, has been higher recently.

"

Wenger will hope Arsenal can continue their decent form on the road.

Team News

Newcastle

Newcastle’s powerful midfield talisman Moussa Sissoko could be due to miss out, as the France international faces a late fitness test on a troublesome groin problem. Better news arrives with the fact that Daryl Janmaat is available again after suspension.

This could be the match in which McClaren chooses to hand a first Premier League start to Florian Thauvin, the former Marseille man who opened his Newcastle account with a goal against Northampton Town in midweek.

Predicted Newcastle XI (4-2-3-1): Tim Krul; Daryl Janmaat, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Massaido Haidara; Vurnon Anita, Jack Colback; Florian Thauvin, Georginio Wijnaldum, Ayoze Perez; Aleksandar Mitrovic

Arsenal

With doubts over Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny persisting, Wenger may have to continue with the makeshift central defensive partnership of Calum Chambers and Gabriel Paulista that almost proved costly against Liverpool. Wenger will hope that, with a rare Premier League start under his belt, Chambers looks more composed at St. James’ Park than he did at the Emirates Stadium on Monday.

Ahead of that, Wenger is likely to keep faith with the same front six who played against Crystal Palace and Liverpool, with Aaron Ramsey on the right-hand side and Olivier Giroud named ahead of Theo Walcott at the point of the attack.

Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers, Gabriel Paulista, Nacho Monreal; Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla; Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez; Olivier Giroud

Players to Watch 

Newcastle: Florian Thauvin

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Florian Thauvin could get his first Premier League start in a Newcastle shirt.

It could have been so different—Thauvin was once a target for Wenger and Arsenal. At his unveiling as a Newcastle player, Thauvin admitted to Craig Hope of the Daily Mail:

"

Two or three seasons ago, Arsene Wenger perhaps made an approach with Arsenal, but apart from Arsenal, Newcastle are the only other club who have made an approach for me in the past.

When I arrived, the manager and I had a long chat. He asked me to be an important player for the team. He wants me to get goals, and he wants me to supply goals too. But he also wants me to fulfil my defensive duties as well.

"

Getting goals and supplying them is what Thauvin does best. He’s an attacking midfielder with prodigious shooting ability and the technical gifts and imagination required to beat a man. His countryman Francis Coquelin will have to be alert to ensure Thauvin does not get on to the ball in dangerous areas.

Arsenal: Calum Chambers

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

Calum Chambers endured a nightmare start to his 2015/16 campaign when he was thrown in as a late replacement for Per Mertesacker against Liverpool. Nerves appeared to get the better of the young Englishman as he struggled to cope with the power of Christian Benteke and the craft of Philippe Coutinho.

However, after a traumatic first half, Chambers recovered to perform relatively well in the second 45. He’ll need to continue that upward trajectory in performance level against Newcastle, who have a physical centre-forward of their own in the shape of Aleksandar Mitrovic.

A solid display from Chambers at St. James’ Park would be hugely important to him and show that his curiously cumbersome display against Liverpool was an outlying anomaly rather than an alarming indicator of a premature decline.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.