Steve Bruce handed Yoshinori Muto a start as Newcastle United faced Champions League chasing Leciester City.
but Bruce was forced to stick with many of the players who have been selected over the festive period.
Indeed, Florian Lejeune started his fourth game in a fortnight while Federico Fernandez - who put in a shaky performance against Everton - was in the starting line-up once more.
Bruce rested Andy Carroll while DeAndre Yedlin was back on the bench.
Bruce said: “To make as many changes as Leicester did [on Saturday] is pretty drastic, but obviously with the two games they’ve played, he must have been looking at it and thinking of ours as well.
“We’re all wanting [to make] four or five changes. I know it’s the festive period and all the rest of it, but it’s ridiculous when you see some of the states that they’re in, especially the ones who played on Boxing Day and Saturday.
“It certainly isn’t right, we’ve got to do something about it.”
UNITED : Dubravka, Schar, Shelvey, Joelinton, Muto, Hayden, Willems, Fernandez, Manquillo, Lejeune, Almiron
Subs: Darlow, Carroll, Gayle, Krafth, Yedlin, Atsu, S. Longstaff
