· November 29 2024, 12:30
**Eddie Howe has some big decisions to make ahead of Saturday's trip to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace.**
Newcastle United were far from their best on Monday night as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to West Ham at St James' Park.
Bruno Guimaraes and Joe Willock came off with knocks and face late fitness tests ahead of the trip to London.
Big Dan Burn is available again to hopefully shore up a leaky defence, which seems like an automatic change, but there's one that we feel Howe will make whether he actually needs to or not.
Sandro Tonali in the middle
### Goalkeeper
**Nick Pope** - Still by far our best option ... just don't pass to his feet for the sake of my dicky ticker!
### Defence
**Tino Livramento** - Kieran Trippier is fit again, but we expect Howe will keep Tino as his number-one choice.
**Fabian Schar** - Who else?
**Dan Burn** - Dan Burn sat the last game out through suspension and was a huge miss as Lloyd Kelly was atrocious. Good to have him back, likely to be wearing the captain's armband too.
**Lewis Hall** - The bright spot on a dark night at St James' Park on Monday.
### Midfield
**Sean Longstaff** - There was a debate about dropping him, but a different change seemed more likely so that's what we went with.
**Sandro Tonali** - Bruno Guimaraes carrying a knock might just be the excuse Eddie Howe needs to drop the Brazilian for a game.
**Joe Willock** - Has trained this week and while Howe is downplaying his availability we're expecting him to start.
### Forwards
**Anthony Gordon** - Gordon and Joelinton are likely to switch flanks at will throughout the game again.
**Alexander Isak** - Has Callum Wilson breathing down his neck again but the Swede will get the nod to start.
**Joelinton** - Could start on either side but we expect him to switch with Gordon depending on how the game pans out.
Harvey Barnes, Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier will give Howe some strong options off the bench. Hopefully, we don't see Jacob Murphy or Miguel Almiron on the pitch at any point.