* The Magpies are a bit draw happy at the moment, before their 2-0 win over Birmingham last week they had drawn four of their last five games.
* Newcastle have scored 30 goals at home this season, that puts them second only to Manchester United and level with Arsenal.
* But they’re also bottom of the Premier League’s fair play table, proving that you don’t have to play dirty to win big. Although they’re down there thanks largely to good scores in the ‘respect towards referee’ and ‘respect towards opponents’ – whatever that means.
* Bolton’s record so far this season has them on cloud nine, literally. With nine wins, nine draws and (you guessed it) nine losses they’re sitting on 36 points – which is obviously divisible by nine.
* On the theme of nines, if Newcastle win on Saturday, they’ll climb above their opponents leaving Bolton ninth in the table. Not that the visitors should fear a spooky 90th minute winner – Newcastle shipped out No.9 Andy Carroll and No.19 Xisco in January.
* Their away record has been a bit more of a reality check, with only two wins all season – against West Ham and Wolves. So don't put your house on an away win!
* In fact, since they beat Wolves back in November they haven’t collected a single point on their travels, so a draw doesn't look too likely either.
* Bolton’s top scorer this season is Johan Elmander with nine goals (not that number again), which is enough to put him on level terms with Fernando Torres, Asamoah Gyan and Samir Nasri.
* But not quite enough to top Newcastle’s sharpshooter Kevin Nolan on 10 goals, or Andy Carroll who’d bagged 11 goals before leaving for Liverpool.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Newcastle: Harper; Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Enrique; Barton, Tiote, Nolan, Gutierrez; Best, Lovenkrands.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen; Alonso, Cahill, Wheater, Robinson; Elmander, Muamba, Holden, Petrov; Sturridge, Kevin Davies.
Prediction
The form book suggests this is a no-brainer, but Bolton did not get into eighth position in the league by being a bad team – even if their away record is atrocious. And the visitors will be buoyed by an away win against Fulham last weekend, even if that was in the FA Cup.
Newcastle have developed a habit of ploughing through adversity this season, but you get the feeling that their lack of firepower up front may well catch up with them. A low scoring draw is the most likely result and both managers would probably take it.
Newcastle have developed a habit of ploughing through adversity this season, but you get the feeling that their lack of firepower up front may well catch up with them. A low scoring draw is the most likely result and both managers would probably take it.
Newcastle 1-1 Bolton 
