Newcastle United FC will be hosting Southampton FC this Sunday, August 9 at the St James' Park in Newcastle to open their 2015-2016 Premier League stint. New manager Steve McClaren will have his Premier League debut for the Tyne and Wear side after the team was guided for the past several months by interim manager John Carver.
The Magpies and the Saints finished last season at almost the opposite ends of the overall standings with the former settling at 15th place while the latter fighting hard to land at seventh place respectively.
Newcastle was in all kinds of trouble last season with former manager Alan Pardew moving to Crystal Palace in the middle of the season.
The team is coming off a 0-1 preseason friendly defeat in the hands of Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach last Saturday at their home field. McClaren was already there to guide the team against a highly talented German squad, and the 54-year-old coach reportedly had a good feel on his current roster before this opening match against Southampton, via Chronicle Live.
Meanwhile, the Saints just had an excellent July month winning three out of three fixtures, then opened August with another victory, their fourth consecutive and fifth out of their last six games.
Their most recent was against Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, 2-0, in the third round of the Europa League qualifiers, as per BBC Sport.
The predicted result is a 1-0 victory by Southampton. The Magpies are still adjusting to the new system of McClaren and to the game of newcomer Georginio Wijnaldum. It may take a few more games before everything settles for Newcastle.
Newcastle starting lineup (4-1-4-1 formation): Krul; Anita, Williamson, Haidara, Janmaat; Taylor; Obertan, Colback, Sissoko, Wijnaldum; Cisse
Southampton starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Stekelenburg; Yoshida, Caulker, Fonte, Martina; Davis, Wanyama, Ward-Prowse; Mane, Pelle, Tadic