Fixture Change: Sky Sports have opted to show Sandro Tonali's return to action live

After serving a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules, Sandro Tonali is set to return to action for the third game in the Premier League season.

That game will be against Tottenham Hotspur at St James' Park and was originally slated to be played on Saturday 31st August has now been pushed to Sunday 1st September with a 1:30pm kick-off due to being selected for broadcast by Sky Sports.

This will be Newcastle's second game of the new season to feature on Sky Sports as a live broadcast with the away game against Bournemouth the week before also selected as a Sunday afternoon kick-off.

Newcastle v Tottenham is a fixture that's often picked by Sky Sports as there tends to be plenty of goals in the fixture, so it's hardly surprising to see it chosen again this season.

Sandro Tonali could be set to make his return to action against Spurs

The fact that it's the first game that Sandro Tonali will be eligible to play in for 10 months probably factored into their decision too, but after such a long time out, there's no guarantee that he'll play a part in the game, and if he does, it's likely to only be a brief cameo to start getting him back up to speed.

As part of the conditions of his ban, Tonali is unable to take part in any friendlies that have fans present, so unless Newcastle have a couple of behind-closed-doors friendlies lined up this summer, Tonali's match sharpness is going to be zero.

That being said, Eddie Howe has often remarked on how well Tonali is training and his English has come on leaps and bounds since he joined, so he will have a great understanding with his teammates both in footballing terms and communication, which will help him get up to speed quicker.

Tottenham will be Newcastle's first big test of the season

Tottenham should be Newcastle's first big test of the season after starting with newly promoted Southampton at home and following that with Bournemouth away, although that fixture has been a bit tricky for us recently.

The fact that fixtures are being changed for TV can only mean that the new season is getting closer. There are just two more games remaining of Euro 2024 and then pre-season begins and before we know it we'll be back to St James' Park roaring on the lads in the Premier League.

Let's get a few top players in first though, yeah?