The 2019/20 Premier League season is upon us and it brings a reality most Newcastle United fans have feared for years: no Rafael Benitez.
Following three years of frustration with the Toon administration, Benitez walked away from the club at the end of his contract to join Chinese Super League outfit Dalian Yifang.
Following Benitez out of the door, top scorers Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez left for pastures new while midfield stalwart Mohamed Diame was also allowed to walk.
Benitez's successor Steve Bruce will have his work cut out attempting to replace the trio while winning over a fanbase left alienated and enraged by events of the last three months.
Can the boyhood Newcastle fan steer his beloved Magpies to Premier League safety - or will the turbulence of another torrid summer prove fatal to the Toon's top division status?
In anticipation of the big kick-off, we asked data kings Google Cloud, Opta and Squawka to crunch all the numbers to produce a full script of the upcoming campaign.
Read this Newcastle excerpt to find out how they believe the Magpies will fare - and when you're done, check out BTSport.com's exclusive in-depth Newcastle season preview and more from The Script.
MORE FROM THE SCRIPT:
- The Script of the 2019/20 Season - Read in full
- How were The Script's conclusions calculated?
- Premier League: The final standings
- Premier League: The Golden Boot race
- Premier League: The relegation battle
- Premier League: The 'Big Six' mini-league
- Premier League: Playmaker award
- Champions League: The knockout stages
- Europa League: The knockout stages
BT Sport will show 52 exclusively live Premier League games this season - more than ever before - as well as every game in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League proper, plus selected Emirates FA Cup, Ladbrokes Premiership, Vanarama National League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and FA Women's Super League games.
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