Sandro Tonali misses out as Eddie Howe names Newcastle United starting XI to face Benfica

Newcastle United versus Benfica at St James' Park will kick off tonight at 8pm live on TNT Sports as Eddie Howe looks to make it back-to-back wins in the Champions League.

The Magpies beat Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0 in Belgium last time out before going on to beat Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. The international break halted their momentum, though, and they lost at Brighton at the weekend.

Sandro Tonali was the big doubt for this game after Eddie Howe admitted that the Italian was suffering from a bug but could still make the game.

Tonali is on the bench, but wasn't deemed well enough to start, giving Lewis Miley a chance to shine in Europe's elite competition again.

The two Jacobs replace Anthony Elanga and Joelinton

As expected, Anthony Elanga and Joelinton have been dropped after their poor showings at the weekend.

The two Jacobs, Murphy and Ramsey, have replaced them on the right flank and left of midfield, respectively.

Eddie Howe has resisted the urge to tinker with the back four, leaving Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman in the middle with Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier on the flanks.

Eddie Howe has a very strong bench at his disposal

We thought Harvey Barnes could have been in with an outside chance of getting the nod ahead of Anthony Gordon in a bid to try and inject some goal threat into the side, but Howe has stuck with the England winger.

No surprise that it's Nick Woltemade up top as the German looks to continue his impressive streak of goals.

The bench is strong, so Howe has plenty of options available should things not be going according to plan.

HOWAY THE LADS!