A familiar sight - Our predicted lineup for Newcastle United to take on Bayer Leverkusen
Newcastle United are in Champions League action on Wednesday night over in Germany as they take on Bayer Leverkusen in an 8pm kick-off live on TNT Sports.
It's a huge game for the Magpies, who have already won on the road in the Champions League and are looking to recover from the defeat against Marseille last time out in this competition.
A win would put Newcastle back in the mix for a top-eight finish in the League, which would see them automatically qualify for the knock-out phase of the competition.
However, Leverkusen will be far from a pushover, especially on their home turf, so Eddie Howe is going to have to put out a very strong side, and that's why we've gone for this traditional-looking lineup.
Goalkeeper
Aaron Ramsdale - Rambo will continue in goal with Nick Pope still injured. No complaints here.
Defenders
Tino Livramento - Has done exceptionally well following his return from injury, which is just as well given Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth are both injured.
Malick Thiaw - The first name on the teamsheet right now. Hopefully, he'll be buoyed from being back in Germany and will put in another top performance.
Dan Burn - Get BDB back to centre-back with Lewis Hall, hopefully recovered from the illness that kept him out of the starting lineup on Saturday.
Lewis Hall - The difference Hall makes to our team is unbelievable. What a bargain he's proving to be. Let's just hope he's fully recovered and able to play 90 minutes.
Midfielders
Bruno Guimaraes (c) - We're expecting Eddie to go with the traditional midfield trio on Wednesday and Sunday, so Bruno with the armband and another performance like Saturday would be fantastic.
Sandro Tonali - The Italian is just made for Champions League nights.
Joelinton - Hasn't been at his best this season, but when you need some grit and determination in the midfield, you can't over look J7.
Forwards
Jacob Murphy - It's 50/50 between Murphy and Anthony Elanga, but we'll go with Murphy for this one. Honestly, though, it could be either.
Nick Woltemade - Back in Germany to do what he does best. He'll probably know he's not going to get 90 minutes with Yoane Wissa likely to come on at some point, so he's going to have to make his time count.
Anthony Gordon - Gordo was immense on Saturday. If we can get another performance like that on Wednesday, we'll be happy.
When writing this out, I started to second-guess my Murphy selection as Eddie Howe may want to keep him for the derby, given his background as a Newcastle supporter. He'll likely be more fired up for that game. We'll stick with it, though.
Yoane Wissa won't be ready to start just yet, but he may take to the pitch for kick-off on Sunday to be replaced by Woltemade later on. It just makes sense to start the German in Germany tomorrow.
