The 23-man squad has been chosen using the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index (PPI), the only official player-rating index of the Barclays Premier League. The index measures a player’s all round contribution to the success of his team. Those scores over the course of the season have been used to identify the 23 players who should be representing England this summer.

Dr Ian McHale, Senior Lecturer in Statistics at Salford University, and the data crunchers behind the PPI, said: “The selection of the England squad for the Euros will divide opinion up and down the land, whether at work, on your games console or in the corridors of The FA.”

“There’s some shock inclusions in the EA SPORTS Euro 2012 squad but the math doesn’t lie. The PPI provides objective ratings for players’ performances in a match and over a season.”

Danny Simpson is an inclusion that may raise eyebrows, but he is the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s highest ranking English full back, securing his place in the 23-man team. Simpson’s won an impressive 79% of tackles this season and made 43 clearances including several match saving goal line clearances that could make all the difference in Poland and the Ukraine.

Here is the full squad, including Danny Simpson…

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Man City), Ben Foster (West Brom), John Ruddy (Norwich)

Defenders: Danny Simpson (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Spurs), Leighton Baines (Everton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Joleon Lescott (Man City), John Terry (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Shawcross (Stoke)

Midfielders: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Matt Jarvis (Wolves), Matthew Etherington (Stoke), Ashley Young (Man Utd), Danny Murphy (Fulham), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Gareth Barry (Man City), Michael Carrick (Man Utd)

Strikers: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Danny Wellbeck (Man Utd), Grant Holt (Norwich), Danny Graham (Swansea)

What do you think about the inclusion of Simpson, the squad as a whole and how it compares to Hodgson’s selection of 23?

Choose your England squad and lead your country to glory in EA SPORTS UEFA EURO 2012, available to download now on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Visit www.EA.com/UK/Football/euro12 for more information.

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According to the Daily Star this is exactly what Newcastle are trying to do as they look to push through a deal for Lille full-back Mathieu Debuchy as soon as possible and in an ideal world before Euro 2012. If Debuchy is picked in Laurent Blanc’s France squad for the upcoming European Championships and has at least at decent campaign then his price will increase, and this is something that Pardew is well aware of.

Pardew has previously said: “It’s going to be a bit like a roulette wheel, and I’m hoping that the players we’re looking at all have awful tournaments. But there’s a good chance they’re going to have excellent tournaments, and all of a sudden, their price might look a bit different.” So maybe we should be hoping that Debuchy has a stinker in Poland and Ukraine next month!

There of course is a possibility that Newcastle will have to wait until the tournament is over to conduct their business, but there is another option. They can go for players who aren’t playing in Euro 2012 for one reason or another. Players who aren’t European, players who didn’t get picked for their national side or those players who are missing the tournament through injury – someone like Dutchman Erik Pieters.

This could allow Newcastle to get at least some of their business done early, but if they could move for someone like Debuchy before he joins up with France then that would be a real coup. The transfer of Papiss Cisse in January showed just how quickly a deal can be done as well, as the Senegalese striker flew in and out of Newcastle in a jiffy!

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26-year-old Cabaye has been a revelation for Newcastle this season and after just one year in the Premier League has already built a solid reputation in English football. He has shown how solid he is technically and how great his passing range is, but he’s also shown that he’s not afraid to scrap either.

Yohan Cabaye let his frustrations get the better of him against Everton yesterday on two occasions. The one that caught the most attention resulted in Australian midfielder Tim Cahill getting sent off, as Cahill grabbed Cabaye by the throat. The two exchanged words, which Yohan already regrets and he was quick to make peace.

Cabaye made this statement: “I would like to apologise for the cross words I exchanged with Tim Cahill which resulted in his red card and my booking on the final whistle. It was unnecessary and, regrettably, the result of frustration and disappointment, all in the heat of the moment. It is out of character and for that I am sorry.”

But this wasn’t the only incident that Yohan was involved in yesterday as the Frenchman also clashed with an Everton ball boy as he attempted to get the ball back, which saw his roundly booed by the Goodison faithful.

However, Cabaye was again quick to try and smooth things over and as soon as the half-time whistle blew, Yohan ran over to the ball boy and gave him a hug…

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On Gillette Soccer Saturday every weekend on Sky Sports News, former Liverpool player and coach Phil Thompson often finds himself covering the Newcastle games. Why I’m not sure, but one thing I do know is that he’s not the biggest fan of the Magpies and this was reflected in his pre-season predictions.

Thommo predicted that QPR, Swansea and Wigan would go down (so he might get one out of three if he’s lucky), but he also said that Newcastle would be in the mix! Now, I know that few people would have predicted that the Magpies would be fighting for Champions League qualification right up until the last day of the season, but relegation? Really?

You have to question Thompson as a pundit, as he predicted that his old club would finish third (check the league table if you don’t know where Liverpool actually are!) and that Charlie Adam would be the best buy. Biased a little bit are we Phil?

To be fair to Thompson though, fellow Soccer Saturday pundit Paul Merson and presenter Jeff Stelling both said that Alan Pardew was in danger of being the first manager to be sacked. Fast forward nine months and it will be a travesty if Pardew doesn’t win the Premier League Manager of the Season Award!

Not only do these predictions show just how little so-called ‘experts’ know, but they also show just how well Newcastle have performed this season. Alan Pardew has worked wonders on Tyneside and Champions League qualification would be a just reward for the team’s efforts this term.

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Nikica Jelavic had a goal controversially called offside last weekend, which saw Everton effectively lose two points at Wolves.

54.5% of Jelavic’s shots this season have been on target, despite him dragging the best chance of the game against Wolves last weekend wide.

44.4% of Jelavic’s total shots on target have resulted in goals this season. Jelavic has put eight in the back of the net this season from just eighteen shots.

Leon Osman clocked up a total of 166.6 miles this season and looks likely to finish fourth for total distance covered in the Everton squad, behind Marouane Fellaini, Leighton Baines and Tony Hibbert.

Everton’s trip to Wolverhampton saw Leon Osman clock up an impressive 6.88 miles according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index.

Marouane Fellaini is fourth in the overall EA SPORTS Player Performance Index for distance covered in comparison with all Premier League midfielders this season.

Fellaini is also tenth overall for distance covered this season out of all Premier League players. According to the index he has covered a total of 204 miles.

Cabaye has covered the most distance for Newcastle in their previous two Premier League appearances against Chelsea and Man City.

According to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index Cabaye has covered 201.1 miles this season and averaged 6.2 miles per appearance.

Jonas Guiterrez however has covered the most distance for Newcastle this season and according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index he has covered a total of 214.3 miles this season.

The overall EA SPORTS Player Performance Index tells us Guiterrez has covered the most ground compared to any other Premier League midfielder this season.

Danny Simpson is Newcastle’s highest ranked player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Despite not scoring at all this season, Simpson is ranked 24th overall.

The 25-year-old English defender has won 79.3% of the 58 tackles he has attempted this season.

Data courtesy of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, the official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League.

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Alan Pardew’s Newcastle are heading into Europe next season, but there’s still plenty of players that he’s looking to offload from his squad. Three of those men could be Danny Simpson, Leon Best and Danny Guthrie, with Aston Villa reported to be interested in all three.

According to the Sun, Newcastle have offered Simpson as much money as they are prepared to and as the right back has turned down their offer of a new deal, the Magpies will look to get rid of the former Manchester United trainee at the end of the season. The Journal even understands that Simpson has recently changed agents in order to force a move if necessary.

As for Leon Best, the Irishman has fallen a long way down the pecking order. Senegalese duo Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba are Pardew’s preferred front two, then there’s Geordie hero Shola Ameobi as backup and with another striker likely to be brought in before the new season, Best’s opportunities on Tyneside will be limited.

Aston Villa have also been long term admirers of Danny Guthrie, and with the Newcastle midfielder’s contract ending in the summer, McLeish will be looking to add to his worryingly thing squad without having to get the chequebook out.

So, Aston Villa could well end up securing a triple swoop from Newcastle as they buy Danny Simpson and Leon Best, and get Danny Guthrie free. The Magpies would also get some more cash from sales of fringe players to strengthen their squad, which is never a bad thing.

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Alan Pardew has taken Newcastle back into Europe and watching Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League final in Bucharest on Wednesday, thanks to a brace from Falcao, only whetted my appetite for European action next season.

The good times are certainly back and not only are Newcastle getting good results, but they’re also playing great football under Pardew and hopefully they can take that onto the continent next season and showcase the team’s talents to a European audience.

Newcastle fans have certainly enjoyed themselves this season and as soon as the final whistle is blown at Goodison, thoughts will turn to the next campaign and one of the most eagerly anticipated Premier League seasons for the Magpies in years.

Gary Devlin is just one of many pleased and excited members of the Toon Army and his picture of Newcastle United on the road to Europe has been doing the rounds on Facebook. Gary might not be able to spell Sweden, but he can put together a cracking picture…

Champions League or Europa League, next season is going to be very special for Newcastle United and I can’t wait to join the likes of Papiss Cisse, Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye on the road to Europe!

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Click on Cisse below to see the Top 7 Newcastle Volleys EVER

While Newcastle United may have played their last game at St James’ Park in their current campaign, the 52,000-plus capacity stadium still has plenty of matches to host before the Magpies play their first home game of the 2012/13 Premier League season.

Almost as soon as Newcastle’s players finished their lap of honour to mark the end of the season following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat against champions-elect Manchester City, the groundsmen were hard at work digging up the pitch.

This is because St James’ Park hosts its first football match of the 2012 Olympics in less than two months’ time on Thursday 26th July. Then the Premier League will start a matter of just a couple of weeks later, so time is at a premium.

Groundsman Andrew Tully is hard at work alongside the rest of his staff to ensure that the St James’ Park pitch is in pristine condition for all of the matches that lie ahead. So if you visit the home of Newcastle United at the weekend, you won’t have seen it looking like this before…

What is it they say? Things have to get worse before they get better? Well, that’s certainly case with the pitch at St James’ Park right now!

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Well, let’s start with the good news surrounding Hatem Ben Arfa. The 25-year-old has been named in Laurent Blanc’s preliminary France squad for Euro 2012, where he joins Newcastle teammate Yohan Cabaye. Blanc has taken the strange step of naming his foreign-based players first and if Ben Arfa does make the final squad he’ll be looking to earn his ninth cap in France’s Euro 2012 opener against England.

This is what Blanc told Eurosport about the inclusion of Hatem: “We have monitored him and can count on him for the knockout stages of the Euro. Sadly after a dispute with Marseille, when I told him to be calm, he left for Newcastle where he suffered a terrible injury. I have watched him play again and watched him recuperating at Clairefontaine, he took some time to come back but his talent was always there and always will be, and he has shown more maturity this season.”

So that’s the good news for Ben Arfa, but the bad news as far as Newcastle are concerned, is that he’s being linked with a move to Serie A. The Mirror is reporting that champions Juventus and Inter Milan are both interested in taking the Frenchman to Italy, which isn’t really a surprise given his form in the Premier League. You’d like to think that as Hatem has spent a lot of his time at Newcastle on the treatment table, that he owes Alan Pardew more time at the club for sticking by him and giving him a chance when many wouldn’t.

A personal blow for Ben Arfa is also that his advisor Simon Stainrod has had his licence suspended by the FA. He worked as a translator for Hatem when he joined Newcastle and is a close friend of Ben Arfa. He has greatly helped the Frenchman settle into the north-east and the former QPR striker may now be forced to cease work in England.

So, a couple of bits of bad news regarding Hatem Ben Arfa and one good one. It would be good to see him line up alongside Cabaye for France in Euro 2012, but if he does do well interest from Italy might just become even stronger.

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The Daily Mail is reporting that 20-year-old defender Boilesen, who had the opportunity to join Man United when he was 17 but instead preferred a move to Ajax, is one of a number of defenders that Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is taking a close look at.

Nicolai Boilesen could well turn out to be an alternative option to Dutch full back Erik Pieters, who missed out on a place in The Netherlands’ Euro 2012 squad due to injury, but Boilesen himself is currently on the treatment table.

Boilesen started his career at Brondby before moving onto Ajax in 2010, and in his two seasons in Holland has only managed a dozen or so appearances for the senior side at the Amsterdam-based club.

That’s largely due to injury, with Boilesen tearing his hamstring back in September. That kept him out for around five months and is still causing him trouble, so Newcastle would have to give him a a thorough medical if they were to make a move for him.

The 6ft 1in left back is currently valued at around £5 million, with his accolades to date being earning two caps for Denmark, Champions League appearances for Ajax and being named the Danish Football Talent of the Year in 2011, so he has plenty of pedigree.

Here’s a video of his in action. Any translations would be much appreciated…

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