Newcastle United and Southampton go head-to-head this weekend.
Newcastle United’s players return from international matters with a trip to St Mary’s to take on Southampton this weekend, and Magpies boss Rafa Benitez will be desperate to get back to winning ways.
Newcastle have not won since mid-September, losing to Brighton and Hove Albion and drawing with Liverpool in recent weeks, but despite that they are only three points outside the top four, proving just how quickly things can change at this early stage of the campaign.
Newcastle are ninth in the league with 10 points from seven matches, while Southampton two points and three places worse off as things stand.
In early team news, Newcastle cannot call on Paul Dummett and Massadio Haidara while their are minor doubts regarding Jonjo Shelvey, Christian Atsu and Matt Ritchie, although all three are rated at 75 per cent to be ready if called upon.
As for Southampton, they are without Matt Target while Shane Long is a minor doubt with a hip injury.
Newcastle will know a win could set them up for an exciting few weeks but Southampton will have other ideas.
With all that in mind here is how we expect Newcastle to line up on Saturday:
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