Eddie Howe confirms he will be rotating his Newcastle United squad again on Wednesday night with key figure likely to miss out
Eddie Howe has squad depth at his disposal for what feels like forever, as Newcastle United's starting XI has practically picked itself for the last three seasons.
A good summer trading period has given the Toon boss options all across the pitch, which is desperately needed with the Magpies competing on four fronts this season.
Eddie Howe made seven changes on Sunday from the team that played against Barcelona on Thursday night, and with a Carabao Cup game against League One leaders Bradford City coming up on Wednesday, the gaffer is ready to change things up again.
We took a punt at predicting the starting XI already, and now that Eddie Howe has met the media, he has hinted that we may be on the right lines.
Eddie Howe wants to keep players fresh
Speaking to the media ahead of the Bradford game, Eddie Howe spoke about needing to keep the balance between rotating the players and maintaining momentum.
"There'll be an element of rotation again. The guys that have played three times last week we might look to give them a rest. We want to pick a strong team and we want to try and progress so you have to get the balance right.
"You don't want players to lose rhythm - that's really important."
Sandro Tonali will sit this one out
The players who have been the most busy in the last three games are Nick Pope, Tino Livramento, Dan Burn and Sandro Tonali, and we have predicted that all four will sit out tomorrow's game for the most part at least.
There may be a call to introduce one or two late. Sandro Tonali could be a big miss for the Toon as he has become the lynchpin of the Magpies' midfield of late.
On paper, you'd expect Newcastle to breeze through this challenge, but given our lack of goals lately, it's not going to be as easy as that. It should be an exciting contest.
