Last season, Burnley swept all before it in the Championship, winning promotion back to the English Premier League (EPL) with seven games to spare.
The club only suffered three defeats from 46 matches, but life in the ‘big league’ is proving difficult as it has already lost four times from five outings.
Its sole point of the season came at Nottingham Forest 10 days ago in a 1-1 draw.
Burnley had a winning start in the League Cup, trouncing Salford City 4-0 to advance to the fourth round, where it will play Everton next month.
The club, however, has suffered an injury blow ahead of the trip to St James’ Park as winger Manuel Benson is injured and may not play again until after the next international break next month.
Benson’s absence is all the harder for Burnley as another winger, Nathan Redmond, who joined from Besiktas in the summer, has missed the last three matches through injury and will not be ready for the weekend.
The Clarets will also be without Michael Obafemi (hamstring), Hjalmar Ekdal (knee), and Darko Churlinov (health concern) for the journey to the northeast. Lyle Taylor will also be absent as he serves the third game of a three-game suspension.
Newcastle has put its poor start to the campaign behind it with a 1-0 defeat of Manchester City in the League Cup.
After starting the season with a 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa, the Magpies suffered three consecutive losses in the league – 1-0 to Manchester City, 2-1 to Liverpool, and 3-1 to Brighton.
It then edged Brentford 1-0 before drawing 0-0 with AC Milan in its first foray into the Champions League in 20 years. The club then hammered Sheffield United 8-0 last weekend, before revenge over City in the League Cup.
Two other clubs who came up from the Championship – Sheffield United and Luton – are also winless.
Sheffield is last with a point and a negative 12 goal difference, with Burnley on negative nine, and Luton on negative eight.
Of the three clubs, many expected Burnley to be the only one to remain in the EPL, as many believed Vincent Kompany has the tactical know-how to keep the side afloat.
He will be severely tested this weekend, but do not bet against the Belgian working his magic as the season progresses.
FIXTURES (Malaysian time)
SATURDAY
Aston Villa vs Brighton (7.30pm)
Manchester United vs Crystal Palace (10pm)
Newcastle vs Burnley (10pm)
Wolves vs Manchester City (10pm)
Bournemouth vs Arsenal (10pm)
West Ham vs Sheffield United (10pm)
Everton vs Luton (10pm)
SUNDAY
Tottenham vs Liverpool (12.30am)
Nottingham Forest vs Brentford (9pm)
TUESDAY
Fulham vs Chelsea (3am)
