Newcastle United predicted line-up vs Fulham - key change made as £60m trio set to miss out

Despite not being at their best in the opening six weeks of the season, Newcastle United will sit on top of the Premier League table if they can claim a win at Fulham on Saturday afternoon.

After taking four points from their opening day home win against Southampton and an away draw at Bournemouth eight days later, Eddie Howe’s men have collected a maximum return from their last two games after seeing off Tottenham Hotspur at St. James’ Park and last weekend’s hard earned victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers. When their Carabao Cup second round win at Nottingham Forest is thrown into the mix, it would be safe to say the Magpies have enjoyed a positive start to the season and will be in confident mood when they head to Craven Cottage this weekend.

Despite the absence of some long-term injury victims, competition for a place in Howe’s starting eleven is starting to hot up and the former Bournemouth boss is facing some difficult decisions before finalising his plans for a tough looking game in West London. Ahead of Saturday’s clash, 3 Added Minutes takes a look at the latest Magpies team news and sees who could be in line for a start at Craven Cottage:

Newcastle United team news

The Magpies are still without defensive duo Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles as they continue their comebacks from long-term injury and both centre-backs are believed to be out of action until the end of December at the earliest. Howe also confirmed young midfielder Lewis Miley is still ‘a long way off’ a return from a foot injury and revealed Callum Wilson is unlikely to return until after the October international break as the England striker continues his comeback from a back injury he suffered during the summer.

More worryingly for Howe, there is still a major doubt over Alexander Isak’s availability after the Sweden international suffered an eye injury in last weekend’s win at Molineux. The striker also picked up a foot injury and the Magpies boss admitted he is still awaiting news on whether Isak could feature at Craven Cottage. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: "The ball grazed his eye, we thought that was the main reason for him coming off the pitch. Then we found he had a knock on his foot. We will find out more today and make a decision on him." There are a number of other major calls for Howe to make ahead of Saturday’s game after the likes of Kieran Trippier, Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock and Harvey Barnes all came off the bench to help the Magpies to their 2-1 win at Wolves.

Pope, Livramento, Schar, Burn, Hall, Guimaraes, Tonali, Longstaff, Murphy, Barnes, Gordon.