Newcastle United continue their pre-season preparations with a friendly against Girona at St James' Park on Friday evening.
This warm-up fixture represents the sixth of pre-season for both the Magpies and Blanquivermells this summer ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Match preview
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Newcastle have returned to home soil after building up their match fitness during a week-long pre-season tour of Japan, taking part in two friendly matches against Urawa Red Diamonds and Yokohama F Marinos.
The Magpies proved to be too strong for Urawa Red Diamonds, with Jacob Murphy (2), Alexander Isak and Lewis Hall all on the scoresheet in a 4-1 victory at the end of July. However, Eddie Howe's side fell to a 2-0 defeat against Yokohama F Marinos last Saturday.
Howe admitted after the match that "it wasn't the result or performance we wanted" but the Newcastle manager has taken positives from the fact that a number of senior stars were able to get minutes under their belts with the new season fast approaching.
Newcastle, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, now have two final friendly tests against two Champions League opponents in the form of Girona and Brest this weekend, before they play host to Southampton in their opening top-flight fixture of the 2024-25 season on August 17.
While the Magpies have won three and lost two of their five pre-season games so far this summer, Girona failed to win any of their opening four friendly fixtures - drawing three and losing one - before securing a 2-0 victory over Napoli last Saturday.
New summer signing Donny van de Beek capitalised on a misplaced pass from Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret to open the scoring midway through the first half, before Toni Villa wrapped up the win for the Spanish side with a close-range finish eight minutes from time.
After a brief stint in Italy, Blanquivermells are now preparing for two final friendly matches in England against Premier League duo Newcastle and Bournemouth ahead of their La Liga opener against away against Real Betis on August 15.
Head coach Michel successfully guided Girona to a surprise third-placed finish in La Liga last season, securing Champions League qualification for the first time in the club's history, and the 48-year-old is keen for his players to end their pre-season programme on a high as they bid to make a strong start to the new campaign on both domestic and continental fronts.
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Team News
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Newcastle boss Howe is once again expected to hand minutes to the vast majority of his squad in a bid to build up match fitness with less than two weeks remaining until the new season gets underway.
Centre-back Fabian Schar and key midfielder Bruno Guimaraes both made their first appearances of pre-season last time out, as did summer signing Lloyd Kelly, and all three Magpies men are set to feature again in some capacity against Girona.
Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon have both returned to first-team training this week after an extended break following their involvement with England at Euro 2024, but it remains to be seen whether they will be involved on Friday.
As for Girona, new arrivals Ladislav Krejci and Gabriel Misehouy are both nursing muscle injuries and will not be involved in either of the club's final two friendly matches, while Jhon Solis and Viktor Tsygankov are also unavailable as they are still recovering from thigh problems.
Blanquivermells have made a total of seven signings so far this summer, including their most recent addition of Oriol Romeu, who has returned to the club on loan from Barcelona and could feature against Newcastle.
Striker Abel Ruiz was not involved against Napoli last weekend and it remains to be seen if he will feature on Friday, while Bryan Gil, Portu, Valery Fernandez and Cristian Stuani will all be battling for a start in the final third.
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Pope; Livramento, Schar, Kelly, Hall; Longstaff, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Isak, Barnes
Girona possible starting lineup:
Gazzaniga; Martinez, Frances, Blind, Gutierrez; Martin, Hererra, Van de Beek; Portu, Stuani, Gil
We say: Newcastle United 2-1 Girona
Both Newcastle and Girona are expected to name relatively strong lineups in both halves of Friday's contest. Blanquivermells are in high spirits following last weekend's win over Napoli, but we expect the Magpies to bounce back from their most recent loss in Japan and come out on top in front of their home crowd.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
![Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe pictured on May 22, 2024 [IMAGO]](https://sm.imgix.net/11/29/1x1.gif?w=1&h=1 "Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe pictured on May 22, 2024 [IMAGO]")
