Woltemade starts! - Confirmed Newcastle and Arsenal line ups for 4.30pm kick off

The team sheets are in at St James' Park, where Eddie Howe's Newcastle take on Mikel Arteta's Arsenal in today's 4.30pm kick off.

Win and we'll shoot above Chelsea and make it four straight home wins over the Gunners, who haven't scored in each of their last three visits to Tyneside.

Here's how the two sides line up, featuring several Newcastle changes from our midweek win over Bradford...

Confirmed line ups

Newcastle XI (5-3-2): Pope - Murphy, Thiaw, Botman, Burn, Livramento - Tonali, B.Guimaraes, Joelinton - Woltemade, Gordon

Subs: Ramsdale, Trippier, Lascelles, Barnes, Krafth, Osula, Elanga, Willock, Miley

Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Raya - Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori - Zubimendi , Rice, Eze - Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard

Subs: Kepa, Saliba, Lewis-Skelly, White, Odegaard, Norgaard, Merino, Martinelli, Dowman

It’s a return to three central defenders for Howe, as both Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman start alongside Dan Burn, as we hope for yet another clean sheet this season.

There’s no place for Lewis Hall however, with Tino Livramento placed at LWB, and Jacob Murphy will have to be at his creative and defensive best down the right flank.

And it looks to be just the two up top for Howe, with Nick Woltemade and Anthony Gordon starting.  Will Osula, who bagged a brace over Bradford midweek, is on the bench alongside Anthony Elanga.

For Arsenal, Eberechi Eze is starting in the heart of midfield alongside Zubimendi and Declan Rice, with Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard either side of Viktor Gyokeres in attack.

At the back is interesting however, as Cristhian Mosquera starts ahead of William Saliba. The young Spaniard has impressed so far for the Gunners, but the pace of Gordon and technical wizardry of Woltemade will be his biggest test yet.