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Published 15:51 26 Aug 2018 BST
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After a bust-up with Benitez over his tactics at the training ground, a decision was made to drop Lascelles from the matchday squad.
Fabian Schar, Federico Fernandez and Ciaran Clark start at St. James' Park as Benitez aims to deliver the first stumbling block for his former club this season.
The Newcastle manager remained coy on his selection ahead of the game.
"To be fair, we've had some problems with injuries, suspensions and also Kenedy, because he's on loan so he can't play. We had to balance what we have and hopefully we'll be fine," Benitez told Sky Sports.
"Jonjo (Shelvey) has been playing with pain in the last two games and he was trying to be here but we had to tell him that he cannot carry on with pain because it's a risk that would be more dangerous.
"With Jamaal, he came with an ankle problem and we decided we had enough centre-backs and that's it."Football

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