Florian Lejeune has been brought into Newcastle United's starting lineup for Sunday afternoon's trip to face Southampton at St Mary's Stadium.

The summer signing from Eibar has not featured for the Magpies since going off injured against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign.

Lejeune has returned to full fitness in recent weeks and is now deemed fit enough to start in the heart of defence, taking over from Ciaran Clark on the back of the 1-1 draw against Liverpool a fortnight ago.

The only other change sees Mikel Merino replaced by Isaac Hayden, fresh from signing a permanent deal at St James' Park earlier this week.

In terms of the hosts, boss Mauricio Pellegrino has made one change following the 2-1 loss to Stoke City, with Manolo Gabbiadini replacing Steven Davis.

Pellegrino has therefore shown faith in Shane Long, who picked up an injury on international duty with Republic of Ireland as his scoreless run stretched to 24 games.

Newcastle have beaten Southampton just once in 16 Premier League away games, losing 12 of those.

Southampton: Forster; Cedric, Van Dijk, Yoshida, Bertrand; Oriol Romeu, Lemina; Tadic, Gabbiadini, Redmond; Long
Subs: McCarthy, Hoedt, McQueen, Ward-Prowse, Boufal, Davis, Austin

Newcastle United: Elliot; Yedlin, Lascelles, Lejeune, Manquillo; Shelvey, Hayden; Ritchie, Ayoze Perez, Atsu; Joselu
Subs: Darlow, Clark, Gamez, Merino, Diame,Murphy, Gayle

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