Newcastle vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction: Lions to be tamed on their travels again

Newcastle United suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Premier League strugglers West Ham United on Sunday, but the Magpies will relish the chance to return to winning ways in the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday (20:00 GMT, TNT Sports 2) against Athletic Bilbao.

Below are my Newcastle vs Athletic Bilbao predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this league phase game at St James’ Park.

Team News

Yoane Wissa (knee), Tino Livramento (knee) and Harrison Ashby (thigh) are all out injured for Newcastle, who are sweating on the fitness of Anthony Gordon, who came off at half-time against West Ham with a hip problem.

Lewis Hall returned to the matchday squad at London Stadium but didn’t come off the bench and is unlikely to start on Wednesday.

Football Odds

Inaki Williams, Inigo Leuke (both adductor), Maroan Sannadi (knee), Benat Prados (ACL) and Unai Egiluz (both ACL) are all in the Athletic treatment room and won’t make the trip to Tyneside, while Yeray Alvarez continues to serve a doping ban.

Newcastle vs Athletic Bilbao Odds

Newcastle lost their opening league phase match 2-1 at home to FC Barcelona, but the Magpies have won their last two in the competition, thrashing Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0 in Belgium before beating Benfica 3-0 at St James’.

Eddie Howe’s side are 1/2 favourites on Wednesday, implying a 66.7% probability of success, while Athletic, who lost their first two Champions League games this season against Arsenal (0-2) and Borussia Dortmund (4-1) before overcoming Qarabag (3-1) last time out, are 13/2, or a 13.3% chance, to claim all three points here, with the draw priced at 10/3.

Betfred’s Price Boosts for this contest include Bruno Guimaraes 2+ Fouls Committed, Joelinton 2+ Fouls Committed & Dan Burn 2+ Fouls Committed at 7/2 (was 11/4).

Player to Receive a Card - Joelinton (NEW) @ 11/5

Newcastle’s midfield enforcer was perhaps fortunate to avoid a booking in Sunday’s defeat in east London, making a couple of fouls and snarling around the pitch in his usual manner.

The 29-year-old was shown a yellow card in his side's previous game against Tottenham Hotspur, despite only coming on for the final 20 minutes of that 2-0 Carabao Cup victory at St James'.

Today's Football Fixtures

Joelinton has already been cautioned five times this season for Newcastle, with 40% (two) of that total coming in the Champions League against Barcelona and USG.

The Brazilian is averaging 1.2 fouls per game in the Premier League and 1.7 per game in the Champions League, committing two fouls against Benfica despite only coming on in the 63rd minute.

As ever, he's a solid candidate to go into the book.

Match Result & Total Goals Over/Under 3.5 - Newcastle & Under 3.5 @ 21/20

Newcastle have won their last four home games across three different competitions, keeping three clean sheets.

The Magpies have beaten Nottingham Forest (2-0) and Fulham (2-1) in the Premier League, Benfica (3-0) in the Champions League, and Spurs (2-0) in the Carabao Cup, with all three games featuring three or fewer goals.

Athletic, meanwhile, have failed to win any of their last five away matches, losing four (D1).

The Lions have failed to score in three of those games, and all three finished with two or fewer goals.

This should be a relatively routine victory for Howe's men, who will be desperate to make amends for their weekend defeat to West Ham.

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