Steve Bruce admits that he has had to make some tough decisions in the build-up to the clash at Chelsea today.
The Geordie boss is close to having a fully fit squad for the encounter at Stamford Bridge with just Matt Ritchie and Florian Lejeune unavailable through injury and Isaac Hayden suspended.
However, it has still left Bruce pondering who will be on the bench and who will be left at home.
Bruce has Andy Carroll fully fit now while Dwight Gayle is also back meaning Yoshinori Muto could miss out all together at Chelsea.
The Toon chief must also decide whether to keep Paul Dummett on the bench after Ciaran Clark's excellent display against Man United.
And he has three right-backs at his disposal in DeAndre Yedlin, Emil Krafth and Javier Manquillo.
The midfield options include Jonjo Shelvey - who was an unused sub against Man United - while Ki is also set to discover if he will miss out on a squad for the second game running.
But Bruce has already stated the Longstaff brothers are likely to start.
Bruce said: "I've got to disappoint a few, because when you do have that many, you are leaving four or five behind.
"That is the nature of football."
But Bruce feels that it is a real positive to have so many options going into a big game.
After weeks of seeing the treatment room congested, he said: "I hadn't even seen some of them play.
"So it is good to see some of them around the training ground again.
"See what they could do, people like Dwight Gayle and DeAndre Yedlin to see what they've got.
"That can only be a good thing for us."
