£40m beast returns to as ‘incredible’ 23-year-old loses out – NUFC predicted XI to face CPFC

Eddie Howe spoke to the media this morning and has given an update on players' fitness levels and availability.

With Eddie Howe's update in mind we've put together our predicted starting XI to take on Crystal Palace at St James' Park tomorrow.

The game is a one of those weird 3pm kick-offs on a Saturday from the 1940s. Newcastle, for all their injury problems, should have enough to grab the win from the side that they drew 0-0 with last season ... on three occasions!

Our predicted starting lineup for NUFC to take on CPFC

Goalkeeper

No prizes for guessing this one. We've obviously gone with Nick Pope.

Defence

Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn will start either side of the same centre-back pairing of the last few games: Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Schar.

Eddie Howe said that Sven Botman is unlikely to be fit enough to return tomorrow.

Midfield

This is where things get a bit tricky and there was some debate in the office.

We all agreed that Sandro Tonali is unlikely to start in light of everything that's going on. While Eddie Howe has confirmed that £40million beast Joelinton has trained all week, there was a bit of debate as to whether he'd start ahead of Elliot Anderson. The one person opting for Anderson was outnumbered, and he's not the one writing this, so Joelinton gets the nod. Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff will make up the rest of the midfield.

Attack

Anthony Gordon has now served his one-game suspension so he is free to start and get booked again, and will probably do both. Miguel Almiron will keep his place on the right and as the 'incredible' Alexander Isak is still injured it'll be Callum Wilson leading the line.

For those of you who prefer a visiual, this is what our lineup looks like.

CreateFormation.com