Chris Sutton uses 'law of averages' to predict Newcastle vs Bournemouth

Eddie Howe will try once again to beat his former side in the Premier League as Bournemouth head north to take on Newcastle United in a 3pm kick-off on Saturday.

That elusive league win against his former side has to come eventually for Eddie Howe, right? 

After a string of poor results, Newcastle are beyond desperate for a win. Indeed, another defeat could be catastrophic for the mood around the city.

It's a less-than-ideal time for the Magpies to come up against such a bogey team, but we always say that these streaks have to end eventually.

Sutton backs a Toon win

The BBC's Chris Sutton is banking on that being the case when the two sides meet this weekend. The ex-Aston Villa striker says that the law of averages has to deliver for Howe eventually.

"Newcastle are in a slump and their manager Eddie Howe looks tired.

"He could definitely do with a win, which is why losing late on against Sunderland and then Crystal Palace has been so damaging. They have now dropped 25 points from winning positions this season, five more than any other Premier League club.

"This is the ninth time Howe has faced Bournemouth as Newcastle boss in the Premier League, but he is yet to beat his old club. Saturday would be a very good time for him to change that.

"Bournemouth already know they will have a new manager next season, with Andoni Iraola set to leave at the end of this campaign. That news is a hammer blow for them.

"The Cherries have been playing well and got a great win against Arsenal last weekend, but I am still going with Newcastle to beat them despite their recent poor results.

"That's right, I am backing Eddie - the law of averages means he has to get a result against Bournemouth some day.

"Sutton's prediction: 2-1"

This season has destroyed us

We are big fans of Sutton's optimism here, and we'll be hoping and praying that he's right.

While a good performance would be nice, we just want the points. If we can stumble our way to a few more wins before the end of this season, we can put this entire campaign behind us and focus on the next one.

Realistically, European qualification is a pipedream at this point, so we're really just playing for pride, and if we manage to sneak into the Europa Conference League, then that's just a bonus. We just want to put this whole season in the rear-view at this point.