The teams are in ahead of Newcastle’s final game of the Sela Cup at St James’ Park, where Eddie Howe’s Mags take on Villarreal in today’s 4pm kick-off.
Here’s the team we’ve gone with against the La Liga side:
STARTING XI: Pope – Murphy, Lascelles (c), Dummett, Burn – Longstaff, Bruno, Joelinton – Ritchie, Wilson, Barnes.
SUBS: Gillespie, De Bolle, Carlyon, Savage, J.Miley, Diallo, Turner-Cooke, Hackett, Ndiweni, Huntley, Parkinson, McArthur.
As expected, there’s 11 changes to the side who beat Fiorentina yesterday, with Harvey Barnes making his first start on Tyneside following his £38m move from Leicester.
Jacob Murphy starts at right-back due to an injury to Javier Manquillo, while big guns like Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Nick Pope and Callum Wilson all come into Howe’s XI. Sean Longstaff also returns after overcoming a groin problem.
Fabian Schar and Joe Willock miss out again with hamstring issues, while a host of U21 prospects feature on the bench.
Avoid defeat today and we’ll lift the Sela Cup after Fiorentina beat Nice 2-1 in the early kick-off. HWTL!
