Eddie Howe has resisted the urge to start Sandro Tonali for Newcastle United against Wolves after the Italian completed two full games for Italy.
We thought Howe may have gone bold and put Tonali in from the start as the Italian showed his fitness levels are fine after completing both Nations League games for Italy.
However, Howe has gone for Sean Longstaff in the midfield after the Newcastle lad has had a solid start to the season.
We were also wrong with our assumption that Kieran Trippier's extra time in training at Benton would have resulted in a start for the 33-year-old.
Tino Livramento keeps his starting place after a pointless week with the England setup.
Strangely Harvey Barnes has been relegated to the bench and replaced by Jacob Murphy despite the B.I.G. front three working well recently.
Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak keep their places as expected.
The other position we weren't sure about was left-back with us predicting that Lloyd Kelly would keep his place after a good showing against Tottenham last time out, but Howe has reinstated Lewis Hall who had an excellent game for England U21s in midweek.
Our bench is full of options, though, with Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes likely to come on and make a huge impact.
Joe Willock has also been a surprise inclusion on the bench after he picked up a knock against Nottingham Forest prior to the Spurs game.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |