Newcastle United were expected to be in a similar position to Watford heading into match-day four, but a shock win in London against Tottenham Hostpur last week meant that they picked up their first win as well as their first points of the season.

A close encounter will be sure to take place between the bottom two sides in these early stages of the Premier League campaign at St James' Park.

Story behind the game

Following that shock win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Magpies lost their home Carabao Cup tie on penalties against Leicester City.

Meanwhile, Watford cruised past League One outfit Coventry City in their second-round draw, winning 3-0 at Vicarage Road.

However, the Hornets' Premier League form is something that must be fixed immediately - six straight league defeats, including at the tail end of last season, and no clean sheet in the top tier since February.

This season has started with just one scored and seven conceded; against Brighton & Hove Albion, Everton and West Ham United.

Prior to their 1-0 win over Spurs, Newcastle suffered two defeats; a narrow loss at home to Arsenal and a poor 3-1 defeat at newly-promoted Norwich City.

Between the two sides, Watford have the favourable record, winning six of the eight encounters since their return to the Premier League. Four of the six wins were in the division whilst the other two came in the FA Cup.

Excluding the cup, Newcastle were able to hold Watford to a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road last season and also managed to pick up their first win of the campaign by winning 1-0 on Tyneside in November. The Hornets will be hoping they can return the favour tomorrow afternoon.

The previous meeting between the two was in the FA Cup fourth round, where Watford progressed on their way to the final with a 2-0 win at St. James' Park. Andre Gray and Isaac Success were on the score sheet on that January day.

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Team news

Newcastle's Matt Ritchie is confirmed to be sidelined for potentially two months after damaging his ankle ligaments in midweek against Leicester.

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New signing Allan Saint-Maximin is out after suffering a hamstring injury at Tottenham, but thankfully for the Magpies, Joelinton is available to play.

A thigh problem kept Roberto Pereyra out of the Hornets squad against West Ham, but he is available for selection tomorrow afternoon. 

Captain Troy Deeney remains absent as he recovers from knee surgery, but fortunately for Javi Gracia, there are no new injury concerns to his team.

Goals required

The main thing that both clubs will be looking for in their clash is goals. Watford have - as mentioned - scored just the one goal in their opening three games, which is the least in the division; whilst Newcastle have scored the second least in the league with just two.

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All in all, it will be interesting to see which of the two teams will end up scoring the more goals and who will come out on top.

Furthermore, the winner may only need one or two goals to end up emerging victorious from the match.

The two have nearly always had relatively close contests, so it would come as a surprise if this didn't bring more of the same.