Anthony Gordon decision made & Joelinton concern as Newcastle United line-up v Crystal Palace confirmed

Newcastle are eyeing a sixth straight win in all competitions and will move up to third in the Premier League table with a result against Palace.

A draw would take Newcastle above Nottingham Forest on goal difference while a win would see them up to third and five points clear of Chelsea in sixth place - strengthening their grip on the Champions League qualification places.

Newcastle drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace in the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park back in November. Back then, they sat 10th in the table after 13 matches.

But a big turn in form has seen Newcastle win the Carabao Cup while also climbing up the table. Wednesday’s match is Newcastle’s game in hand on the teams around them, rescheduled as a result of the Carabao Cup final last month.

Newcastle beat Manchester United 4-1 at St James’ Park on Sunday and will be looking to carry on the momentum into the midweek fixture. The Magpies will be without head coach Eddie Howe once again but have named the same starting line-up for the sixth successive match, with the hope of claiming a sixth straight win.

Joe Willock returns for Newcastle United

While Newcastle are unchanged, they are boosted by the return of Joe Willock on the bench after the midfielder missed the last two matches due to a concussion.

The club had to follow FA concussion protocols which forced Willock to miss the matches against Leicester City and Man United.

But ahead of the Palace game, Newcastle assistant manager Jason Tindall confirmed Willock would be back involved.

“Yeah he's now exited the concussion protocols so he's available now to be involved in the squad for tomorrow night,” he said.

“Everybody's come away from the [Manchester United] game fine. It was good to get Anthony Gordon some minutes on the pitch, great to have him back with the qualities that he's got, Joe Willock's now back from the concussion protocols so the squad's in good shape as always thankfully, we didn't pick up any injuries from the weekend so we go into the Crystal Palace game full of health up to this moment obviously.”

Jason Tindall previews Crystal Palace game

Tindall will remain in temporary charge of Newcastle in the absence of head coach Eddie Howe. Howe has been ruled out of the Palace game and the following match against Aston Villa though there is no clear timescale for his return at this stage.

Looking ahead to the Palace match, Tindall said: “Their form of recent has been outstanding, in the top three or four I think it is in the Premier League in some of their metrics, so we know it's going to be a really, really tough game for us.

“They're a very dangerous side, as I said earlier they've only lost two games in 15, I think it is away from home and obviously one of them was the weekend.

“So we know it's going to be a tough task and we know we have to be at our best to make sure that we get something from the game and know what a group of players we've got, they'll understand that, they'll know that and hopefully we can go out and deliver a performance good enough to win the game.”

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Joelinton concern

Newcastle will be hoping midfielder Joelinton avoids a booking against Palace tonight. If the Brazilian is booked it will be his 10th yellow of the league season and he will be banned for the upcoming matches against Aston Villa and Ipswich Town due to Premier League suspension rules.

There is a loophole Joelinton could exploit to reduce his ban if he does indeed pick up a yellow card as picking up a second yellow and being sent off would actually see his ban drop to one match rather than two.

If he avoids a yellow tonight he will avoid a ban as the 32 game threshold will have passed.

Newcastle United confirmed line-up v Crystal Palace

NUFC XI v Crystal Palace: Pope; Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento; Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Murphy, Barnes, Isak

Subs: Dubravka, Wilson, Gordon, Targett, Krafth, Osula, Willock, Longstaff, Miley

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