Fulham vs Newcastle - Match preview and predicted line-ups

The final day of the season is upon us, and it's not been an easy one, has it?

The mistakes of a messy summer 2025 have come back to bite us, hard. Not only did we start the campaign on the back foot, unprepared and without new signings integrated following the loss of Alexander Isak, but several issues have also emerged.

Eddie Howe has struggled to balance European football alongside cup runs and a Premier League campaign. The lack of training time has been bemoaned, which we must adapt to moving forward if we want to compete on all fronts, and our inability to hold onto leads has crippled us, alongside issues up front and on the right wing, with £105m duo Yoane Wissa and Anthony Elanga mustering ONE Premier League goal between them in 49 combined outings.

For balance, injuries have been a constant theme, and we'll end the season having played 56 games after two cup runs and a Champions League campaign that brought plenty of highs before that Nou Camp collapse at the hand of Barcelona. 

So, a long and difficult campaign all ends away to Fulham, who, like Newcastle, have very little to play for, with the two clubs tied on 49 points and unable to qualify for European football, even if other results went our way.

By my calculations, we could finish 9th if results go our way, but may drop as low as 14th if we lose at Craven Cottage, see Everton (49) get a result at Spurs and Leeds (47) win away to West Ham, which would relegate the Hammers. 

Let's see what we can do. Hopefully, it's a positive end to a tough 2025/26, our third win in our last four, a display that builds on last weekend's fluid attacking display against West Ham and a result that allows us to finish above the Mackems. 

Who starts? 

This feels pretty straightforward based on injury updates and the display we produced in last Sunday's 3-1 win at St James' Park.

With Joelinton out, and Lewis Miley missing, along with Fabian Schar, Emil Krafth and Tino Livramento, I'm backing Howe to pick the same XI, especially if Sandro Tonali is fine to start.

I'd love to see Thiaw and Botman build on what could shape up to be a strong centre-back partnership, Ramsey continue to shine in that left-sided role, Woltemade perform again as a second striker and Osula continue his superb form after five goals in his last six games.

We hope Trippier enjoys his final game in a Newcastle shirt and wonder if it's the last time we also see Pope as our No.1, with a new goalkeeper one of the club's top priorities this summer.

Predicted Newcastle XI: Pope - Trippier, Thiaw, Botman, Hall - Bruno, Tonali - Barnes, Woltemade, Ramsey - Osula. 

Predicted Fulham XI: Leno - Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Robinson - Lukic, Berge - Wilson, King, Iwobi - Muniz.

Who wins? 

We've shown signs of improvement lately, albeit too little too late, and have had a strong record at Fulham, winning five of our last six trips to Craven Cottage.

I could easily see a high-scoring draw, but will back the lads to end 2025/26 with a 2-1 win, with Osula and Barnes grabbing the goals on a sunny day in Southwest London.

Prediction: Fulham 1-2 Newcastle 

Keep the faith. HWTL!