
Newcastle won 4-0 at Union Saint-Gilloise in their last Champions League game
Benfica have lost both their games in the competition so far
Recommended bet: Under 2.5 Goals
Two weeks after Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea with new club Benfica on Matchday 2 of the Champions League, the Special One is back again, this time heading for Tyneside.
Mourinho has work to do with the Portuguese giants yet to register a point from two games, while the Toon are sitting prettier on three points, bouncing back from a narrow loss to Barcelona by crushing Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium.
Team news
Tino Livramento, Jamaal Lascelles, Lewis Hall and Yoane Wiss are all unavailable to Eddie Howe.
Lewis Miley and Jacob Murphy are pushing for starts ahead of Joelinton and Anthony Elanga, who underwhelmed in Saturday's 2-1 loss at Brighton in the Premier League.
Alexander Bah and Manu Silva have been long-term absentees for Benfica but are back in training. Striker Bruma has also yet to play this season.
The latest Newcastle United vs Benfica odds are available on LiveScore Bet
The stats
Newcastle frontman Nick Woltemade has scored in five successive matches for his club and Germany.
Benfica's 1-0 loss at Chelsea on Matchday 2 makes it eight successive games against English opposition without a win.
Newcastle have won at least six corners in each of their six home games this season.
Eleven of Benfica's 16 matches this season have produced two goals or less, including each of their last three.
Prediction
Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge did not go quite as the ex-Chelsea boss would have wanted, but there was enough from the performance in the 1-0 defeat to suggest Benfica are going to improve.
Mourinho was parachuted in following the horror Matchday 1 loss to Qarabag, which means Benfica sit on zero points and need something to click soon.
And soon means starting at Newcastle where they can frustrate Eddie Howe's hosts.
Mourinho has taken charge of six matches since returning to Lisbon, three of which have produced clean sheets with three goals conceded in the others.
That is a wholesale improvement on what Bruno Lage left behind and breaching Benfica's deep-seated defence may ask plenty of questions of the Toon.
And the Geordies are nothing if not erratic. They were disappointed to lose their opener, 2-1 at home to Barcelona, but bounced back with a stylish 4-0 romp past Union SG away.
Domestically, however, their results are mixed and take Nick Woltemade out of the frame and it is hard to see where the goals will come from.
Benfica will play hard-ball at St James' Park and help to deliver a low-scoring affair like so many of their other games this term.
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The latest Newcastle United vs Benfica odds are available on LiveScore Bet