Eddie Howe has some big calls to make today regarding his starting lineup as Newcastle United take on League Two Bromley at St James' Park in the FA Cup third round. Kick-off is 3pm and the game is live on BBC iPlayer or via the red button.
It would be easy for Eddie Howe to throw out an entirely new starting XI while feeling confident that no matter what team he puts out will be competitive against a League Two side, but if Cambridge United taught us anything, it's that it's never that straightforward.
Indeed, Howe has spoken about getting the balance right on the pitch and that means it's not as straightforward as perhaps we made it look with our lineup prediction yesterday, which we have very little faith in if we're being honest.
However, two players we had in our prediction have dropped massive hints about their roles today.
Both Miguel Almiron and Sean Longstaff have posted on social media about today's game which is usually a good indicator of some level of involvement.
We've got them both down to start today, but they could be on the bench, however, it does look as if both will be involved in some capacity today.
Indeed, both players are in the shop window this month as Newcastle look to trim the squad so a good performance could go a long way.
We are genuinely excited to see the starting XI today just because we're expecting it to be so different to what we're used to.
As long as Howe gets that all-important balance right then it shouldn't be too much of an issue.
Let's hope that Will Osula can grab himself a goal to get his confidence up. We get that Howe is doing the same with him as he did with Lewis Hall, but Hall has spoken about how hard it was on him last year, so a confidence boost for Osula won't be a bad thing at all.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
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1 |
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23 | 35 | 56 |
2 |
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24 | 27 | 50 |
3 |
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24 | 13 | 47 |
4 |
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24 | 16 | 43 |
5 |
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24 | 13 | 41 |
6 |
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24 | 13 | 41 |
7 |
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24 | 13 | 40 |
8 |
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24 | -3 | 37 |
9 |
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24 | 4 | 36 |
10 |
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24 | -3 | 34 |
11 |
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24 | 0 | 31 |
12 |
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24 | -2 | 30 |
13 |
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24 | -6 | 29 |
14 |
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24 | 11 | 27 |
15 |
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24 | -17 | 27 |
16 |
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23 | -5 | 26 |
17 |
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24 | -18 | 19 |
18 |
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24 | -28 | 17 |
19 |
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24 | -27 | 16 |
20 |
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24 | -36 | 9 |