Crystal Palace have always found a visit to Tyneside a struggle in the modern era.
It was in this fixture last season that Mikel Merino, the day after making his loan move a permanent one, scored his only Newcastle goal in this fixture last season which was a late winner against a Crystal Palace side who had achieved their first points of the season in the previous week against Chelsea after losing their first seven league matches of the season. Going into Saturday's game, the two sides have the best defences out of all the teams in the bottom half.
At St. James' and Selhurst Park, the Magpies have only succumbed to one defeat in the last 16 meetings against the Eagles. In addition, Palace have also only won one in their last 16 visits to St. James' Park, a run that stretches back to January 1973. Three of the last four meetings at St. James' Park have ended as a 1-0 win for Newcastle with the exception being a 3-3 draw in August 2014 where Dwight Gayle opened the scoring for Palace.
Elsewhere this weekend, the FA Cup semi-finals take place which see relegation rivals, Brighton up against Man City. Reaching this far in the competition gives Brighton a distraction from their league campaign - some fans of the club may have wished to focus on their target of safety from relegation in exchange for reaching this far in the FA Cup as Man City go into their match as favourites for the win.
In the Premier League, Newcastle have two other matches to look at this weekend. On Friday night, Southampton will be playing at home against leaders, Liverpool. The saints are currently two points and two places off Newcastle. On Saturday, whilst we play against Palace, Bournemouth go up against Burnley at the Vitality Stadium, two sides who are currently either side of ourselves with Burnley hovering just above the relegation zone.
If we take all three points away from Crystal Palace and other results go in our favour, we could be as high as 12th place in the Premier League by the end of Saturday and, more importantly, 10 points off 18th placed Cardiff who will still have six games remaining as they try to turn around their fortunes.
Facts and Figures
All Competitions
Newcastle wins: 25
Crystal Palace wins: 9
Draws: 8
Top Flight
Newcastle wins: 11
Crystal Palace wins: 6
Draws: 8
Top Flight at St. James' Park
Newcastle wins: 6
Draws: 3
Crystal Palace wins: 2
Previous ten (all competitions)
Newcastle wins: 5 (15 goals)
Draws: 4
Crystal Palace wins: 1 (12 goals)
Biggest win: Newcastle United 6 - 2 Crystal Palace (11/01/1947)
Biggest defeat: Newcastle United 1 - 2 Crystal Palace (18/03/1998)
Memory Lane
Newcastle United 1 - 0 Crystal Palace - 22/03/2014 (Premier League)
Tim Krul:
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa:
Fabricio Coloccini:
Mike Williamson:
Paul Dummett:
Moussa Sissoko:
Cheick Tiote: The 2013/14 season was a good campaign for Tiote. He was unlucky to add to his final Newcastle goal tally of one after thundering home against Man City only for it to be unjustly ruled out. This match against Palace was a game where the Ivorian international pulled the strings in the midfield and tested goalkeeper, Julian Speroni.
Vurnon Anita:
Yoan Gouffran:
Papiss Cisse: Similar to the goal he scored 53 weeks beforehand against Anzhi Makachkala, Cisse headed in the game's only goal in the 94th minute from close range after Ben Arfa picked him out. Cisse made amends with his winning goal after missing a sitter of a chance just moments before.
Luuk de Jong: de Jong's best moment in this match was coming off the pitch to be substituted for Hatem Ben Arfa. Ben Arfa's appearance proved crucial as he provided the cross that picked out Papiss Cisse who headed home the late winner.