Newcastle United play Norwich City at St. James’ Park on Wednesday in the Championship.
The fixture comes after a disappointing draw against Aston Villa on Saturday in which the home side equalised in the final minutes.
Dwight Gayle and Mohamed Diame missed good chances to make the score 2-0 – could they drop out of the side as a result of their poor performances?
Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez had to sit and watch the performance after combining well during the 6-0 demolition of Queens Park Rangers.
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Toon manager Rafa Benitez has seen the good and the bad of his rotation policy over the past few weeks, will he settle for a more consistent team for Wednesday?
The defence is pretty settled but there are players who will be itching for some more game time as the season progresses.
Check out the predicted XI for the Canaries clash during midweek. As normal, the team selected will play a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Matz Sels
Belgian goalkeeper Matz Sels is still the undisputed number one around St. James’ Park – at least until Rob Elliot comes back from injury.
Karl Darlow has been relegated to playing in the cup games and he will be pleased to see the Magpies progressing through the EFL Cup rounds.
Sels has had a mixed game for United since joining from A.A Gent and was given a rating of 6/10 by the Chronicle after the game against Aston Villa.
Achraf Lazaar and DeAndre Yedlin
DeAndre Yedlin started at right-back in the absence of Vurnon Anita and had a solid game as his attacking prowess and pace down the flank caused constant problems.
Paul Dummett is a more defensively minded player, but Rafa Benitez will probably rotate him out of the side in favour of Achraf Lazaar.
Lazaar is quicker and can offer more than Dummett going forward, which is an added bonus to any manager.
Jamaal Lascelles and Chancel Mbemba
Since being made the Newcastle United captain by manager Rafa Benitez, Jamaal Lascelles has made himself almost undroppable.
As a result of this, the defender alongside him has seen a lot of rotation – while Ciaran Clark being the current incumbent.
Despite having a good campaign to date, Chancel Mbemba deserves some game time and he’s predicted by Newcastle Toons as coming into the side.
Isaac Hayden and Jonjo Shelvey
Former Arsenal midfielder Isaac Hayden and Jonjo Shelvey have forced their way into Rafa Benitez’s plans as the first choice combination.
They’ve both made nine appearances in the league this season and Hayden has a WhoScored.com rating of 7.26 while Shelvey gets a 7.22.
Benitez hasn’t tended to rotate in the middle of the park too much and so it’s predicted that these two will remain the same.
Matt Ritchie and Christian Atsu
Matt Ritchie has made himself an important part of Newcastle United’s team since joining in the summer, while Christian Atsu is yet to get his chance.
Yoan Gouffran has played well, but Atsu’s pace can offer something he can’t – while Ritchie can move to the left hand side and cut in from wide.
The Chelsea loanee deserves to start a fixture in order to show Benitez what he’s like in a game – but he also needs it to get his match fitness up.
Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic
The pairing of Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic both had excellent games when they started together at Queens Park Rangers and they deserve another go.
Mitrovic has only made the first XI once this season while Perez has often been played out of position on the left hand side.
The Spaniard and the Serb will want to get on the field after missing out on Saturday and Rafa Benitez should let them.
Karl Darlow, Paul Dummett, Ciaran Clark, Jack Colback, Yoan Gouffran, Mohamed Diame, Dwight Gayle
A number of starters have all dropped down to the bench and they will provide some more firepower as the fixture progresses.
Paul Dummett and Ciaran Clark can both cover the left-back and central defensive positions – while Chancel Mbemba can slide across the right-back if there is a problem there.
Jack Colback will provide some solidity in the central midfield role while Yoan Gouffran can offer some industry down the left hand side.
Mohamed Diame can come on to offer a penetrative pass and drive from midfield while Dwight Gayle can nip in and cause problems to defenders with tired legs.
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