Struggling Swansea travel to St. James' Park after having a rather poor recent away record with only one win in their last nine away league games with four points coming from those matches including seven defeats.
The last time Swansea came to St. James' in April 2016, it was Rafa Benitez's first win as Newcastle manager and Newcastle's first PL home win over the Swans after having suffered three consecutive home defeats against the Jack Army before that 3-0 win.
Facts and Figures
All Competitions
Newcastle wins: 24
Swansea wins: 15
Draws: 6
League games
Newcastle wins: 20
Swansea wins: 14
Draws: 5
League at St. James' Park
Newcastle wins: 10
Swansea wins: 6
Draws: 3
Previous ten (all competitions)
Swansea wins: 6 (15 goals)
Newcastle wins: 3 (12 goals)
Draws: 1
Biggest wins (in this fixture)
Newcastle United 6 - 0 Swansea (27/10/1963)
It was an average season at best for Newcastle with an eighth place finish in the old second division. However, it was a relegation scrap but a successful one for the team who were named Swansea Town at the time as they finished 19th place and one point above the relegation zone.
Biggest defeat (in this fixture)
Newcastle United 1 - 3 Swansea (19/04/1980)
Going into Saturday's match, Swansea are four points off safety just like fellow strugglers, West Brom. Newcastle are two points off the relegation zone and find themselves in 13th place. It is extremely tight in bottom half of the table however the bottom two of Swansea and West Brom are currently looking rather isolated from everyone else. Five points separate 10th place Watford and 18th place Stoke who sacked Mark Hughes after their FA Cup defeat to League Two Coventry. Quique Sanchez Flores, who was dubiously sacked after a more than satisfactory season at Watford in 2015/16, is now the favourite to fill the void left by Hughes as the Potters try and fight against relegation.
Unlike Newcastle, Swansea have a fixture in midweek being their FA Cup third round replay against Wolves. Because of Swansea's tight situation, I would expect them to place their undivided attention towards Saturday's match and not think about their FA Cup fixture. At this moment in time, Swansea are far from a write-off for relegation and I believe they will put up a good fight against us as players try to impress new incoming manager, Carlos Carvalhal.