Coventry's only league goal this season was scored by a wing-back, assisted by their goalkeeper, in a game where they had 38% of the ball and lost the xG count. For the upcoming match against Newcastle they have no senior striker at all, so the question isn't whether they can score "like a team with strikers" but whether that one kind of goal can happen twice. I'd keep an eye on how Newcastle's patched-up back line handles direct play, rather than on the table position.
The Coventry side, from the match records in our DB (some results are still provisional). The 1-0 at Nottingham on Sept 19 is their only Premier League win and only league goal: Jay DaSilva scored in the 55th minute, assisted by Carl Rushworth. Nottingham had 24 shots to 10 and xG 1.10 to 0.67. Before that, a 0-5 home loss to Brighton, in which Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off in the 53rd minute with the score at 0-2, and 0-1 defeats at Manchester City and at home to Hull. The RotoWire team-news piece attached to the match says Awoniyi is serving the last game of his three-match ban and Haji Wright, who hasn't played this season, won't be back before November at best. That leaves Coventry without both senior strikers. The same piece says Milan van Ewijk is back in training after a hamstring problem.
Newcastle's side is more mixed. Their league results run Tottenham away 2-0, Bournemouth at home 2-2, Leeds away 1-4, Hull at home 2-1. Against Tottenham they were outshot 17 to 11 and still won on two goals after the 60th minute. At Leeds, though, they conceded four. Reports from The Mag and RotoWire list several defenders and attackers as doubtful or recovering (Burn, Livramento, Osula, Elanga), and Jaissle said returning players are more likely to be on the bench than in the starting XI. I'd treat those as unconfirmed until the line-ups come out; the supplier list and the press reports don't agree on Burn.
So the point I'd watch is narrow. Coventry's one proven route to a goal didn't involve a striker, and it now has to come from midfield or the wing-backs again. Whether a depleted Newcastle back line is vulnerable to that, or only to the kind of high-possession opponent that beat them at Leeds, is the open question. It's a small sample (five league games for Coventry), so I wouldn't read more into it than that.
