A new era at St James’s Park begins on Sunday afternoon as Steve Bruce’s Newcastle United take on Arsenal.

It’s fair to say there has been a mixed reaction to the appointment of the former Sunderland manager, and there is a strong argument to say this is the most high profile of his eleven managerial appointments.

Victory here would certainly get a few of those doubting fans on side, and there is likely to be a debut for their new number nine Joelinton though Andy Carroll, who sealed his return to the North East on transfer deadline day is not yet available.

DeAndre Yedlin will also miss the game as he continues to recover from a groin operation.

Joelinton is 9.5 (17/2) to get the first goal of the game, while Christian Atsu is available at 17.0 (16/1) with Betfred.

The home win is as highly priced as the 4.5 (7/2) on offer from a variety of firms, with the visitors favourites at 1.88 (22/25) with Unibet. The draw can be backed at 3.8 (14/5) with some bookmakers.

After what many have described as a very good transfer window for the Gunners, they are being hotly tipped for a return to the top four after missing out in each of the last three campaigns.

However, Unai Emery is without a number of his first team players for this game with Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Divos Mavrapanos out while Mesut Ozil and Sead Kosalnic will also not be risked for security measures.

New signing Keiran Tierney is also out while fellow new arrival Nicolas Pepe will be assessed ahead of kick-off, along with Mohamed Elneny and Alexandre Lacazette.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is favourite to open the scoring at 4.5 (7/2) with Henrikh Mkhitaryan an 8.5 (15/2) chance with Unibet.

Last season’s corresponding fixture ended in a 2-1 win for Arsenal, while they also triumphed in their meeting at the Emirates on April Fools Day.

You can bet on the Gunners scoring two or more this time around at 1.8 (4/5) with Sky Bet, while you can back both teams to score at 1.67 (4/6) with most firms.