Newcastle United host Bournemouth on Saturday aiming to continue their climb away from the lower reaches of the Premier League.
Four points in their last two matches has moved the Magpies up to 15th in the table and they will be eager to maintain their good form this weekend.
Newcastle’s odds for winning the game are around 2.50 which would imply a probability of 40% for this to happen (calculation done through mybettingsites).
Steve Bruce’s side produced an impressive performance in their most recent outing, recording a 3-2 victory at West Ham United.
Bournemouth were also successful in their last match, beating Manchester United 1-0 to edge up to 7th in the standings.
Newcastle are without Sean Longstaff through suspension, while Florian Lejeune, Matt Ritchie and Fabian Schar are unlikely to return from injury until after the international break.
Andrew Surman and Jefferson Lerma both miss out for Bournemouth, while Charlie Daniels and Junior Stanislas remain on the sidelines.
David Brooks and Dan Gosling are closing in on a return, although Howe may decide to give them a little longer to recover from their respective injuries.
Newcastle took four points off Bournemouth last season, winning 2-1 at home before securing a 2-2 draw at the Vitality Stadium.
The two sides have met each other on just 12 previous occasions, with Newcastle winning four, drawing three and losing five of those matches.
Their performances at the start of the current campaign drew plenty of criticism, but they have certainly improved over the past few weeks.
Despite their troubles, Newcastle have lost just once at St James’ Park this season and will fancy their chances of enhancing that record against the Cherries.
Howe’s side have been defeated by Manchester City, Arsenal and Leicester City this term, and they have also dropped silly points against teams they were expected to beat.
They had gone four games without a victory prior to beating United and their inconsistent nature makes them a difficult team to predict.
If Newcastle repeat the form they showed against the Hammers they would be a good bet to pick up three points this weekend.
With fixtures to come against Aston Villa (A), Manchester City (H), Sheffield United (A), Southampton (H), Burnley (A) and Crystal Palace (H) in the run-up to Christmas it is important for Newcastle to keep their points tally ticking over.
Prediction: Newcastle looked impressive at West Ham and can follow up with a 2-1 victory over Bournemouth this weekend.
