Eddie Howe rotated his squad once again at Villa Park as Sean Longstaff was benched for the big Premier League encounter with Aston Villa.
The other big piece of team news was that Miguel Almiron returned much earlier than initially anticipated from a thigh injury suffered last month. Almiron was expected back potentially back for the Tottenham Hotspur game at the earliest.
That meant Joelinton, Joe Willock and Bruno Guimaraes were on midfield duty and Howe was able to field a front three of Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak. Howe has played down Gordon's reaction to being taken off in the 2-1 win over Brentford last weekend.
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The decision to start the £45million man gives Newcastle some fresh spark from the start in the second city clash. Otherwise, Howe went with Nick Pope in goal with a back four of Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Dan Burn.
Howe's consistency with the defensiive rearguard meant that Matt Targett again missed out on a place in the starting line-up in a bench that also included fit again Almiron.
Today's Newcastle United XI
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Bruno, Willock, Joelinton, Gordon, Murphy, Isak
Subs: Dubravka, Lascelles, Wilson, Ritchie, Targett, Manquillo, Almiron, Anderson, Longstaff
READ NEXT
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