Newcastle United are flying in The Premier League after a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa at St James' Park last Saturday cemented The Magpies' place in The Top 4:

Two goals from Callum Wilson in front of watching England boss Gareth Southgate, a first goal of the season from Joelinton with Brazil national team manager Tite in attendance and another Goal of the Month worldie from man of the moment Miguel Almiron put the Villains to the sword and had St James' Park absolutely rocking:

Under Eddie Howe, Newcastle United have quickly turned St James' Park into the Fortress it was under Kevin Keegan and Sir Bobby Robson in the late 90s and early 00s and this season, The Magpies have won four and drawn three and lost none of their seven Premier League games so far at home & another victory or draw against Chelsea on Saturday 12th of November will take an unbeaten record into the winter break.

The quality of the goals Newcastle are scoring and the increasing number of them is slowly but surely earning Howe's side comparisons with Keegan's Entertainers side of the 90s and Robson's free-scoring Young Guns (plus Alan Shearer!) with Miguel Almiron hosting his own Goal of the Month competition in October with superlative strikes against Fulham, Spurs, Everton and Villa in a red-hot scoring streak of glorious goals:

Newcastle's next challenge is away to Southampton who are 13 Premier League places below The Magpies in 17th place after a struggling start to the season with just three wins yet Eddie Howe and his men will be taking nothing for granted in the quest for success and Champions League qualification.

With Joelinton suspended after collecting a fifth yellow card of the season last week, Sunday's trip to Southampton could see a return to Newcastle's starting line-up of effervescent attacking winger Allan Saint-Maximin, who came on as a substitute against Aston Villa in the 86th minute, one of Eddie Howe's record-breaking SIX substitutes due to receiving an additional sub after Villa keeper Martinez was a concussion substitute:

While the French wizard of the dribble didn't have long to impress on Saturday, he certainly has against Southampton in the past grabbing a late winner at St Mary's in March 2020 in Newcastle's last Premier League game before the first Covid lockdown:

Amazingly for a player whose goals and inspirational performances were one of the vital factors in keeping the club up in the 2019/20 & 2020/21 and a regular performer under Eddie Howe, The Saint still has his critics among that element of the Newcastle fanbase who don't trust flair and skill but Way Aye Scout Kev Lawson, whose statistics and write-ups the official NUFC website now use made a staunch defence of the Frenchman on Twitter revealing him as The Mags' most creative player providing far and away the most key passes and goal-scoring chances in the Newcastle squad:

Southampton will certainly not relish seeing Maxi's name on the opposition teamsheet as he also scored in last season's 2-2 draw at St James' Park under Steve Bruce and gave their defence a torrid time on his last visit to St. Mary's in that 2020 game after missing last season's 2-1 win with injury:

Last season's 2-1 win came courtesy of a superb Bruno Guimaraes winner on his full Magpies debut

Southampton, meanwhile, are deep in a relegation battle already and as teams like Burnley last season found out, if you're in a fight for survival season in, season out, eventually it takes its toll and you'll slip out of the Premier League into The Championship.

The Saints' leading lights this season have been James Ward-Prowse, as always, although even he isn't shining as much as he usually does and unless the Saints can reverse their downward trajectory, they will be in danger until the final day of the season.

Eddie Howe was upbeat in his presser as Newcastle gather momentum with another long unbeaten run now stretching to eight games after that Liverpool refereeing debacle which remains The Magpies' only loss this season.

The Magpies manager revealed a virtually full bill of health for his squad:

with midfielder JonJo Shelvey champing at the bit to figure in the starting line-up:

Howe was nominated for Premier League Manager of the Month for October after guiding Newcastle to five wins & a draw at Old Trafford and as well as Miguel Almiron's wonder goal at Fulham's nomination for Goal of the Month, 3 Newcastle players Almiron, Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes were nominated for Premier League Player of the Month with Howe full of praise for the Brazilian publicly asking Newcastle fans to vote for his Paraguyan team-mate to concentrate the vote:

Smells like team spirit of the kind that matched with the top quality Newcastle have will brush struggling Southampton aside for another three points on Sunday.

Prediction - Southampton 0 Newcastle 3

Potential Line-Ups: