£39m man dropped and 19-year-old called up - Our Newcastle lineup prediction to face Sheffield Utd

Eddie Howe took a big risk with his formation on Wednesday and it absolutely didn't pay off so we are hoping he has learned his lesson going into Saturday's game.

Newcastle United host Sheffield United at St James' Park in a 3pm Saturday kick-off, which of course means there'll be no live UK TV coverage.

After that disaster on Wednesday we are expecting that Howe will revert to the usual 4-3-3 that has served us so well and we're also expecting a big call in terms of the personnel.

We actually hope we're wrong with this lineup prediction

We love the idea of the Notorious B.I.G. up front, (Harvey Barnes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon) but Barnes was completely ineffectual on Wednesday and Eddie Howe also has a weird love for Jacob Murphy, so we think there'll be a tweak with Gordon back in his usual left-wing role and Murphy on the right.

Goalkeeper

Martin Dubravka - Nick Pope is back in training but not ready to return. The countdown is on!

Defence

Emil Krafth - It sounded like Tino Livramento isn't ready to start and we honestly are starting to wonder if Kieran Trippier isn't buried alive somewhere and the club are still trying to locate him.

Fabian Schar - The best of a bad bunch at the back on Wednesday but still way off his level. Hopefully Mr Reliable will step up on Saturday.

Dan Burn - Struggled with the duel role on Wednesday. If we revert to a back four he will no doubt have a better game.

Lewis Hall - He actually looked lively on Wednesday when he came on, he could be very useful against Sheffield United.

Midfield

Sean Longstaff - Like Dubravka, we're praying for someone to come back to fitness to replace him. We love Longy, but he's just nowhere near his best.

Bruno Guimaraes - Got the star man by default on Wednesday because we felt we had to give it to somebody and he was the one who seemed to actually be trying.

Elliot Anderson - There's not a player in the squad with more heart than Anderson. If only he'd not been injured this season - what could have been.

Forwards

Jacob Murphy - We'd prefer to have Anthony Gordon here but just can't shake the feeling that Howe will go with Murphy and drop Harvey Barnes.

Alexander Isak - There'll never be a better opportunity for Isak to get his first hat trick for Newcastle than tomorrow.

Anthony Gordon - If Howe does drop Barnes, then Gordon will revert to the left side of the attack.

We are not declaring our confidence this time

If this is how Eddie lines up his side then we have Tino Livramento, Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilson on the bench to (hopefully) put the Blades to the sword late in the game.

Ideally, though, Barnes will start with Isak and Gordon on Saturday and indeed for every remaining game of the season.

Sheffield United have almost as many players out injured as we do so an already below-par squad is depleted which should really tip the scales in our favour, but they are also fighting for survival, albeit more likely just a postponement.