The Daily Acca: Magpies bring home this 7/1 shot

Eddie Howe hopes Newcastle can hit the ground running and push for a place in the top four

Both Empoli and Udinese have fairly similar records in Serie A this season, with the latter having picked up just one point more than the former.

Home advantage could prove crucial at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, especially given the visitors’ poor recent away form. For Udinese there are four away defeats and four defeats from the last five home and away games in the league.

The hosts have been in better form of late, having only suffered one defeat in four, against Inter. Since that defeat they have beaten Como and drawn in Lecce, and although there has only been one home win all year, it came recently and they have faced Juventus, Fiorentina, Napoli and Inter.

The squad are bottom of Serie A, so it might be a little shocking that I’m predicting them to win in games not too far away.

On the bright side, they have only played five of their 12 games at this ground so far this season and have already recorded two wins – 2-0 against Genoa in September and 3-2 against Udinese in October.

Their opponents Lecce are not doing much better as they only have one point and will enjoy an additional home game.

Their away record is pathetic: they have played six games, won none, drawn one and lost five. Worse still, they haven’t scored a single goal on their travels.

Stage 3 Newcastle (90 minutes) @ 2/5 (20:00)

The international break probably came at the wrong time for Newcastle as they had just won three games in a row and were back in form.

However, a home game against struggling West Ham is a great opportunity to rebuild that momentum as the Hammers have really failed to fire this year.

Julen Lopetegui has not yet managed to bring the team together and they have conceded 19 goals in 11 games so far.

In their last two away games they lost 4-1 at Spurs and 3-0 at Forest, and Eddie Howe’s hosts have won three of five games at St James’s, as well as a draw against Man City.