Three Newcastle United players to keep a close eye on against Brighton as suspension looms

Newcastle United host Brighton at St James' Park this afternoon in the FA Cup in a 1:45pm kick-off live on ITV.

We expect that both clubs are going to give it their all today with full-strength sides. Newcastle are on for a domestic cup double, while the FA Cup is Brighton's only shot at silverware this season.

Eddie Howe has some big selection decisions to make today with debate raging on over who should be in goal out of Martin Dubravka and Nick Pope, while there are three big players currently nursing knocks who may or may not be involved today.

Joelinton, Sven Botman and of course, Alexander Isak have all been missing lately and having them back, even if just on the bench could be a huge boost.

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Newcastle have three players facing FA Cup suspension

While there are three players hoping to be involved, Newcastle also have three players who, should they play today, need to watch their step.

Dan Burn, Joe Willock and Will Osula are all walking that disciplinary tightrope and a booking today would see them ruled out of the quarter-final, should Newcastle progress.

Of the three, we've only got Dan Burn to actually start today, but there's always a chance Eddie Howe sticks with Joe Willock over Lewis Miley, and while Osula likely won't start, he could still be involved from the bench.

Dan Burn would be a miss if he picked up a suspension even with Sven Botman as cover

While not ideal, especially not for the players themselves, as long as Newcastle have a fully fit squad come the quarter-final, then none of them would be a catastrophic miss.

If Sven Botman is fit, he can slot in for Dan Burn, although missing BDB after the season he's had would be a bit of a blow for sure.

Of course, Newcastle have to get past Brighton today before any of this becomes relevant, so let's get the job done first and worry about that later.