Game On! Newcastle v Southampton

Game on at SJP! After the joy of progressing in the Europa League midweek, Newcastle United must now quickly focus their attention to domestic matters as Southampton visit St James' Park.

The results yesterday mean that it's easy to see what a win will do for each team. Three points for either side will extend the gap to six points between themselves and the relegation spaces.

If you want to get a bit more technical and look a little bit deeper, then a win for Southampton will take them above Sunderland and West Ham into 13th place whilst a win for Newcastle will be enough to propel us above the Mackems into 14th place. United could jump into 13th place aswell but they'd need to win by three clear goals and would then go above West Ham on goals scored. A draw for either side is no good to anyone.

Southampton go into the game having not played a competitive game for over two weeks whilst United, who named a strong side in Ukraine in midweek, have played twice in the period with a break of only two days between playing in Kharkiv and playing in Newcastle. Tiredness could play a part, but then by the same token the opposite could be true and Southampton could be rusty whilst we've continued to grease the machine with competitive games. We shall see.

The match preview is online and can be viewed by clicking here. It features injury news for both sides, a look at the history of the fixture between the two clubs, some stats and facts along with some of my random rambling at the end.

The game itself is not being broadcast live here in the UK as the TV moguls have opted to show Manchester City v Chelsea instead. That means a lot of people who aren't going to the game today will be looking for a stream so if you happen to stumble across a good one then by all means feel free to leave a link to it in the 'comments' section below.

Team news will be published below as and when it becomes available and is once again being provided by Big Dave, who is doing sterling work keeping you guys updated with team sheets in my enforced absence through work. Not good for me, but probably good for United as they always seem to win when I'm at work. Hopefully that streak continues today.

Howay the lads!

Newcastle: Elliot Debuchy Colo S Taylor Santon Tiote Cabaye Jonas Sissoko Gouffran Cisse

Subs: Anita Yanga-Mbiwa Marveaux Sho Ameobi Alnwick Perch Obertan

Southampton: Boruc, Clyne, Yoshida, Hooiveld, Shaw, Schneiderlin, Cork, S Davis, Rodriguez, Lallana, Lambert

Subs: Davis, Fonte, Ramirez, Fox, Prowse, Mayuka, Puncheon