Newcastle United host Crystal Palace at St James' Park after tasting defeat for the first time this season in controversial circumstances at Anfield after a brilliant debut by record signing Alexander Isak who put The Magpies ahead only for a second strike to be dubiously disallowed for the most marginal of offside calls before Liverpool equalised through Roberto Firmino then scored a 98th minute winner by Fabio Carvalho despite only five minutes of additional time being officially awarded by the fourth official.

The Magpies' first defeat of the season left a bitter taste in the mouths of Newcastle fans, players, management, owners and pundits alike as Matt Targett, who returned to the starting line-up and had an excellent game, joined Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Alan Shearer in tweeting about the very late nature of the loss following the generous decision by the official to seemingly play until Liverpool scored:

Its not the first time this season that Newcastle United can rightly feel aggrieved at the terrible officiating by Premier League referees and VARs with key decisions like Callum Wilson's goal against Brighton being disallowed and stonewall penalties not given against Man City and Wolves already making up a list of dodgy decisions after 5 games:

The defeat leaves Newcastle 11th in The Premier League table with just one win from the opening five games needing a win and all three points against Crystal Palace, who are 13th in the table with five points after a draw against Brentford on Tuesday night thanks to yet another Wilfried Zaha goal before Thomas Frank's men equalised:

Patrick Vieira's men have also won just once in their opening five Premier League games beating beleaguered basement dwellers Aston Villa 3-1 as well as defeating Oxford United 2-0 in The Carabao Cup but a tough fixture list start involving trips to Liverpool and Man City and Arsenal at home have left The Eagles in the bottom half.

Unsurprisingly, Palace's star man has been Wilfried Zaha, who has started the season in a rich vein of scoring form scoring four in the four Premier League games he has played including special strikes against Brentford this week and away to Liverpool so Newcastle must be mindful of his threat on the counter-attack especially:

The return to fitness this season of one-time Toon target Eberechi Eze has also been pivotal with the highly creative former QPR man pulling the strings in midfield and linking the defence and attack rapidly:

Newcastle Can Enjoy Home Comforts Again

Magpies fans will be looking forward to seeing new man Alexander Isak especially after the Sweden international whetted their appetites with a stunning debut performance showing pace, superb dribbling & clinical finishing at Anfield that deserved to have yielded more than the one goal that was allowed:

And Alexander The Great joined the chorus of black and whites who maintained that he deserved to get at least a point from the match:

Ryan Fraser had a good game on his return to the side ahead of Matt Targett, who provided more natural balance to the Newcastle line-up in place of Burn at left-back with the big Geordie returning to his more natural centre-back position alongside Captain Jamaal Lascelles as Eddie Howe rotated his squad.

In his pre-match presser, Howe outlined the injuries to the club's star trio on the injury table and is said while Callum Wilson won't be fit for Saturday, Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes are touch and go to be playing against Crystal Palace:

After paying tribute to Martin Dubravka, who has joined Man United on loan and Federico Fernandez, who has left the club to join Elche CF, Howe explained how he is pleased that the transfer window is now shut and delighted with the group he has got who "couldn't be more together":

That togetherness has been in real evidence throughout 2022 and will prove the bedrock of the club's future success and already includes new boy Alexander Isak and will be the sources of victories starting with a vital home victory on Saturday. HoweAy The Lads!

Prediction - Newcastle United 3 Crystal Palace 1

Potential Teams: