Cheshire referee Jones has been appointed for United’s trip to the Liberty Stadium on Sunday (4pm kick-off), which will be shown live on Sky Sports.

It will be Jones’ third outing of the season, having already overseen Southampton’s 0-0 draw at home to the Swans on the first weekend of the campaign, before taking charge of the 1-1 Checkatrade Trophy tie between Grimsby Town and Doncaster Rovers.

Last term, 49-year-old Jones – the fourth official in Rafa Benítez’s side’s 3-0 win over West Ham last time out – refereed 30 matches across the top four leagues in English football, as well as the FA Cup and what is now known as the Carabao Cup. He showed a total of 120 yellow cards in those matches, as well as five red cards.

Sunday’s game in south Wales will be the first time Jones has officiated a Newcastle game since the 2015/16 season, when he also took charge of United’ trip to Swansea – showing a red card to Daryl Janmaat – as well as the Magpies’ 3-0 defeat to Leicester City at St. James’ Park.

Adrian Holmes and Mark Scholes will be the assistants at the Liberty Stadium, while Bobby Madley will be the fourth official.