Rafa Benitez is expected to freshen up his Newcastle United team that started the 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town on Saturday when tasked with facing Premier League strugglers Fulham this season.
The Spanish manager is expected to make a total of three changes to his side as they look to continuing their winning ways after their narrow victory away from home against the Terriers.
Martin Dubrvaka, Jamaal Lascelles and Fabian Schar are all likely to keep their places as all three did their part to help the Magpies record a clean sheet in their last outing.
However Ciarian Clark drops out of the team due to an ankle injury (Source: BBC Sport) and his spot is taken by a returning Paul Dummett who was fit enough to feature from the bench against the Terriers.
Benitez’s second change also likely to occur in his defence with DeAndre Yedlin replacing 24-year-old Javier Manquillo at right-back as the speed demon is back after serving a one-game suspension.
Given that Yedlin has been first-choice all season, Benitez is likely to unleash him straight back into his starting line-up.
The Magpies manager, given that a lot of his players excelled against the Terriers, is expected to keep Ki Sung-yueng, Mohamed Diame, Salomon Rondon and Ayoze Perez in his starting line-up.
However Atsu will be deployed on the left-flank, with Kenedy likely to drop out of the team, which means Matt Ritchie will be recalled to the starting line-up in order to take up a place on the right-flank.
The Brazilian is likely to be Benitez’s third and final change to his team for when they host Fulham at St James Park on the weekend as the manager is likely to axe him after publicly acknowledging the player struggled against the Terries, as covered by the Chronicle.
While the manager shared he thought Kenedy struggled due to playing as wing-back, Benitez is still expected to drop the 22-year-old after his display.
This means that in total Benitez will make three changes regarding personnel when hosting Fulham compared to who started the clash with the Terriers, with Clark, Kennedy and Manquillo all dropping out for various reasons.
