Sandro Tonali starts and Alexander Isak misses out as Newcastle take on the champions - Team news is in

Newcastle United take on Manchester City at St James' Park in the 12:30pm kick-off live on TNT Sports.

An unlikely win for the Magpies could see them go level on points with today's opponents and table-toppers Manchester City although we doubt there are many people out there expecting us to pick up three points today.

Despite Manchester City missing Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne it was already a tall task for Newcastle to get a win from this game, but with Alexander Isak missing, and rumours suggesting he's out until after the international break, things just got a whole lot harder.

We had hoped that Eddie Howe was playing up Isak's injury to sew doubt and then we'd see his name on the teamsheet, but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.

Newcastle go without a recognised striker on the pitch

So now Newcastle are in that position we kept saying all summer that we should never be in again - lining up without a recognised striker on the pitch.

Anthony Gordon will play as centre-forward flanked by Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy while Newcastle's only actually fit striker Will Osula watches on from the bench as Eddie Howe clearly doesn't think the 21-year-old is ready to step up just yet.

It's infuriating because we all saw this coming, and as promising as Osula is, he's no use to us if he's not ready for first-team action.

Our midfield trio could make all the difference

Elsewhere, Howe has trusted Kieran Trippier over Tino Livramento in the right-back role, but oddly gone with Lewis Hall at left-back over the more defensively solid Lloyd Kelly.

Sandro Tonali makes his first Premier League start since returning from his 10-month suspension alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton which, if all are on top form could be how Newcastle get something from today's game.

Manchester City are still an exceptionally strong side even with two huge players like De Bruyne and Rodri missing. They still have more than enough to cause Newcastle problems and we're pretty sure that they will do just that.

It's all about the performance for us today, though. Putting up a good fight is all we can ask for and we come away with points at the end of it, then that's just gravy.