The 36-year-old refereed two Newcastle games in the Sky Bet Championship last season - a 2-0 win at Barnsley just over 12 months ago and a 1-0 Boxing Day defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at St. James' Park.

His last Premier League game involving the Magpies was, coincidentally, United's home defeat to Bournemouth in March 2016, which turned out to be Steve McClaren's final game as head coach.

So far this term, he's refereed seven games in all competitions, showing 22 yellow cards and no red.

On Saturday, he will be assisted by Scott Ledger and Harry Lennard. Martin Atkinson will be the fourth official.