Newcastle team news to face Southampton - Eddie Howe delivers zero surprises

Newcastle United and Southampton get their Premier League season underway at 3pm.

Eddie Howe has offered up absolutely no surprises in his starting XI going for exactly the starting lineup that we predicted yesterday.

As soon as Eddie Howe said in his press conference that Joe Willock wasn't 100% fit that absolutely nailed down the starting XI for us and we were right.

Willock is on the bench with Sean Longstaff starting the season in the midfield lineup alongside captain Bruno Guimaraes.

Will Osula and Lloyd Kelly could make their debuts from the bench

Jacob Murphy is preferred to Miguel Almiron and Dan Burn gets the nod ahead of new signing Lloyd Kelly.

Kelly and Will Osula are both on the bench and could be in line for their league debuts.

Martin Dubravka is preferred to new signing Odysseas Vlachodimos on the bench, which makes his £20 million acquisition even more baffling.

Matt Targett makes the first squad of the season

There's no place on the bench for Trevan Sanusi but perhaps the one surprise in the squad is the inclusion of Matt Targett who gets a spot on the bench.

Meanwhile, Adam Armstrong makes another return to St James' Park to lead the line for the Saints.

Southampton's side has a few familiar faces in but nothing there that should worry Newcastle today.