Team News: Matt Ritchie starts as Eddie Howe rings the changes for Manchester United clash
As expected, Eddie Howe has made full use of the available squad for tonight's Carabao Cup clash.
Newcastle United may be struggling with a lack of squad depth but that hasn't stopped Eddie Howe ringing the changes for tonight's Carabao Cup clash with last year's final opponents, Manchester United.
We tried our best to predict how the team would line up tonight and it was the hardest prediction we've ever done, but we got 9/11 correct and we couldn't be happier with that.
Eddie Howe made some bold changes that we were too afraid to do in our hypothetical XI
Emil Krafth playing in a centre-back role wasn't something we were expecting, but many others online had called it. Also keeping Sean Longstaff in the starting XI and resting Bruno Guimaraes was one we toyed with but we weren't as bold as Eddie Howe.
Far from the strongest lineup Eddie Howe could have gone with it's still a team loaded with talent.
The youngsters, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall need to use this game to stake their claim for more game time.
Manchester United are there for the taking
Manchester United, even at full strength, have looked suspect this season so there's no reason this side can't cause them problems.
It's still a tough game to call but it's going to be a good one to watch purely to see how our second-string are looking these days.
Howay the lads!
