Newcastle United host Fulham on Saturday at St James’ Park and it’s a great opportunity for them to record a second consecutive Premier League win.
The Magpies are currently four points above the drop zone and can distance themselves further when they face bottom of the table Fulham.
They currently have the worst defensive record in the division, with a colossal 42 goals conceded in the 17 league games so far.
New Fulham boss Claudio Ranieri is yet to really see major improvements defensively and it’s something that Newcastle need to expose.
It could be a huge match for inconsistent attacker Ayoze Perez, who has shown during his four and half years with the club that he can go from a world beater one day to completely invisible.
Perez, 25, has scored just two goals so far this season in all competitions and looks short of the standards he set last year when he netted 10.
But the Spanish attacker is beginning to build a partnership behind centre-forward Salomon Rondon and it’s something that must be pleasing to manager Rafael Benitez.
Perez is capable of winning Newcastle three points by himself when he’s in a confident mood and has the technical quality in the final third.
Many supporters get frustrated with him for only showing up once every few games, but he really should be cashing in against a leaky Fulham defence to make up for a slow start.