Just days after spending close to £30million in the transfer window, Newcastle United travelled to Everton and put in a very lacklustre and poor performance. Their home clash with West Brom this Saturday is the perfect opportunity to put things right.
The facts and figures
Newcastle and West Brom are both still fighting their own relegation battles but Tony Pulis' men sit in a much healthier league position. A win for West Brom could potentially move them 12 points clear of the drop zone and take a huge amount of pressure off their shoulders.
West Brom have scored 42 goals in 42 games under Pulis' leadership but since his first game in charge the Baggies have averaged fewer shots on target per game than any other Premier League side. Despite this, West Brom have the second highest amount of clean sheets since Pulis' arrival, behind Arsenal.
After Wednesday's defeat, Newcastle have now gone nine consecutive games without a clean sheet. Victor Anichebe will be hoping to take advantage of this as he looks for his sixth career goal against the club.
No start for Saido
A lot of West Brom's time in the transfer window was spent repelling efforts from other clubs for Saido Berahino. Newcastle were amongst the favourites to sign the youngster before the window closed but as many predicted, Berahino stayed put.
It is no secret that Berahino and club chairman Jeremy Peace don't see eye-to-eye after the latter refused to let the striker leave last summer. This week talks were set to take place to resolve the future of the 22-year-old.
Pulis has also announced that Berahino will not start at St. James' Park this weekend.
The end of McClaren?
Steve McClaren's ability to save Newcastle's sinking ship has been called into question a couple of times already this season but never more so than this week after the hammering at Goodison Park.
Rumours are swirling that two defeats in the next two games against West Brom and Chelsea may mean the end for McClaren as the gap between relegation and safety widens.
David Moyes is said to be favourite to get the job, if McClaren is to get the boot.