Watching this Newcastle team against Leeds.
Our next match in the Premier League.
Newcastle United will be looking to build on their wins over Burnley and Crystal Palace to hopefully rise further in the Premier League.
Eddie Howe and his team go into tonight’s match just two points out of the top five.
With Wolves bottoming out of the Premier League after Leeds at home, there is the potential to gain real momentum in 2026.
As a reminder, this was the Newcastle team against Crystal Palace:
Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Schar, Hall, Tonali, Joelinton, Bruno, Jacob Murphy, Gordon, Wissa
During Eddie Howe’s pre-match press conference on Tuesday before this match in Leeds, the Head Coach said about the suitability/availability of Jacob Murphy and Anthony Elanga: “Jacob has had a scan but no serious injury, so I think it was probably fatigue. His physical performance in the match was excellent. I think he will be available. It will be a late decision, but we keep our fingers crossed. I don’t think Anthony is quite there yet. It’s just taking a little longer in the closing stages than we hoped. It won’t be long.”
In addition to Anthony Elanga, Dan Burn, Will Osula, Jamaal Lascelles and Emil Krafth all remain out.
Kieran Trippier, Sven Botman and Tino Livramento all returned to the matchday squad for the match against Crystal Palace, while Nick Pope, Joelinton and Yoane Wissa made the starting XI at Burnley AND were then cleared to play again on Sunday, against Palace.
A big improvement in terms of the number of options for Eddie Howe, plus it meant a much stronger bench three days ago, which played a big role in Newcastle’s win against Crystal Palace.
If you take all that into consideration…
This is my predicted Newcastle team vs Leeds:
Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Scale, Hall, Tonali, Bruno, Barnes, Gordon, Woltemade
If the above comes to fruition, it would mean two changes for Eddie Howe.
Woltemade and Barnes replace Wissa and Murphy.
Looking at the bench against Crystal Palace you see the likes of Trippier, Botman, Barnes, Livramento, Woltemade, Willock and Ramsey all now pushing for a start.
However, I think the plan will be for most of them to return to the starting XI against Bournemouth in the FA Cup on Saturday.
I know this is stating the obvious, but it’s clear that Eddie Howe will be desperate to get a trio of Premier League wins to get us very competitive towards the top five or six in the table. I believe he will see the best way to do that is to play another game where there is continuity.
Which to me indicates these two changes. Having got Yoane Wissa to peak fitness with two starts just three days apart, it’s now time to bring Big Nick back into action, look after Jacob Murphy and bring on Harvey Barnes, who was excellent off the bench on Sunday. Although I have a feeling this time it will be Anthony Gordon to his less favored right and Barnes to the left.
As well as the substitutions that helped United beat Palace, this also meant that the likes of Hall, Tonali and Gordon only played an hour, meaning they would have to be in good physical shape to start again if selected.
Tonali has been a bit undersized lately, but not physically. His touch and decision-making were a little off at times against Palace, but he was still able to make those trademark recovery sprints to extinguish the danger on a number of occasions.
I think overall it’s a good thing that it’s great that we’re now in a position where it’s not like the team picks itself, where before you could easily predict who would start each match, with or without an odd player.
You’ve seen what Dean’s thoughts are on the most likely Newcastle team against Leeds. Use the comments section below to share your thoughts on which eleven you think Eddie Howe will select. Plus of course what you would prefer to start with eleven tonight.
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