Team News ahead of Sunday afternoon’s early Premier League tie between Newcastle United and Aston Villa that has a 1.30pm kick-off at St. James’s Park. The match will be screening live on Sky Sports.

The big question for Magpies boss Alan Pardew is whether or not he decides to start with new £10 million mega signing Papiss Cisse alongside leading scorer Demba Ba after their African Cup of Nations excursions. The Senegalese pair both returned to the North East on Thursday and should be fighting fit and raring to go but with the snowy weather bringing conditions Cisse might not be used to, will Pardew chuck him in for his first taste of Premier League football?

Most pre-match previews suggested Demba Ba would start the game alongside Leon Best with Cisse to come off the bench at around the hour mark.

One player who isn’t back from the African Cup of Nations is Ivory Coast’s Cheick Tiote, whilst his French midfield partner Yohan Cabaye serves the second of his three-match ban. Pardew will start Danny Guthrie in center midfield, probably alongside James Perch who came on against Blackburn Rovers and made the midfield more solid in the second half.

The other big question is over who plays on the right. Ryan Taylor is a workhorse and the best crosser at the club who can create goals but is suspect defending. Hatem Ben Arfa is the most skillful player at the club and also with an eye for a goal but he often gets carried away and plays like a schoolboy (doesn’t like to pass, thinks he can dribble past the world, etc) and can be a liability. Gabriel Obertan is lightning fast and terrorizes defences but lacks the quality in the final third and doesn’t have a footballing brain… but he did score in the dying moments against Rovers. Not an easy call for Pardew.

The rest of the side should stay the same with no new injury concerns and Steven Taylor, Sylvain Marveaux, Sammy Ameobi, Nile Ranger and Steve Harper still sidelined.

For Villa, Alex McLeish probably won’t have the pacy Gabriel Agbonlahor at his disposable as he continues to suffer with back and hamstring problems. James Collins (calf) and Marc Albrighton remain out.

There will be no return for on-loan Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas to the North East but 35 year old Shay Given, who spent over a decade at the club and was Newcastle’s greatest ever goalkeeper returns for the first time since he left for Manchester City in early 2009. Hopefully he will get a good reception… but you just never know do you.

The reception Charles N’Zogbia will get on the other hand…

As far as Stephen Ireland goes, I don’t think any of the Toon fans will care to see him again.

Robbie Keane, usually a threat against Newcastle, is likely to start.

Line-ups from;

Newcastle (from): Krul, Elliot, Harper, Simpson, R. Taylor, Santon, Ferguson, Perch, Coloccini, Williamson, Kadar, Obertan, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez, Gosling, Abeid, Vuckic, Ba, Cisse, Best, Shola Ameobi, Lovenkrands.

Aston Villa (from): Given, Guzan, Hutton, Lichaj, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock, Baker, Bannan, Clark, Petrov, Ireland, Bent, Keane, Agbonlahor, Heskey, N’Zogbia, Weimann, Marshall, Johnson, Gardner, Stevens.

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