After spending much of the first part of the season fielding makeshift teams, Newcastle boss Joe Kinnear now has some selection quandaries due to key players returning from injury.

Defender Steven Taylor is expected back this weekend and striker Mark Viduka isn't far away, add to that the fitness and form of Michael Owen and Kinnear is in an unenviable position.

The interim Magpies boss now has to decide what to do with forwards Obafemi Martins and Shola Ameobi who have been in reasonable form of late; Ameobi having been dropped for last week's Chelsea clash

"It was difficult decision to make because both Shola and Obafemi Martins had been scoring goals for us," Kinnear said.

"But when I took Shola to one side on Saturday morning in a little one-to-one chat and told him, he was on the bench, he could not have taken it better.

"Obviously he was disappointed, but he told me he understood his decision my decision, and that he was part of the squad and it was the team which mattered most."