Allan Saint-Maximin dropped as Steve Bruce names surprise starting XI

Steve Bruce has changed tactics for this afternoons game against Burnley – and switched to a back four at St James’s Park.

Saint-Maximin drops down to the bench along with Nabil Bentaleb, while Javier Manquillo, Isaac Hayden, Matt Ritchie and Dwight Gayle come into the starting XI.

“Very early on, it was evident they were quite comfortable in what they had done before,” said Bruce, United’s head coach. “The glaring facts are we don’t score enough, so we have to be more of a threat in the opposing half, and we have to be working on. If that’s a new era, then we’ll try. That’s been our Achilles heel all season. In the past we were OK, but I think has waned a bit.”

NEWCASTLE UNITED: Dubravka, Manquillo, Fernandez, Lascelles, Rose, Hayden Shelvey, Ritchie, Almiron, Joelinton, Gayle. Subs: Darlow, Schar, Saint-Maximin, Lejeune, Yedlin, S Longstaff, Bentaleb.