For the first time in a long time Glenn Roeder has all but two (Owen and Ameobi) of his first team squad fit for the visit of Manchester City to St James’ Park on Saturday.

Glenn and his troops will hope that a victory will put them on a winning run that may still see the team qualify for Europe next year – though the odds of that must now be quite low – it is nevertheless still possible.

The remaining games will be vital for a number of Newcastle players who will hope to have contracts renewed before next season.

Oguchi Onyewu (Gooch), on loan from Belgium club Standard Leige, has still to prove his worth in the remaining games, and Roeder has apparently indicated that he will keep only one of Gooch and Bramble for next season. It would be a surprise if Gooch is not retained since he seems a player of much potential and certainly in the three years he has been on the USA national team, he has improved considerably.

But all credit to Roeder for looking closely at players before signing them: Newcastle’s transfer dealings have hardly been stellar in the last several years.

One of the problems for the center backs is that there will be competition for places since Moore and Ramage have both returned from injury and Stephen Taylor is only too willing to play at center back.

Craig Moore’s contract runs out at the end of the season and it is not expected to be renewed. Moore has played well for Newcastle when fit but he missed seven months of last season and almost three months of this seaspon with hamstring problems. Unless we put him on a fitness regime - like Dyer and Owen have been on for their hamstrings - then signing him would not be good business for Newcastle.

With the emergence of some of the younger players and the success of Solano at right back it will be interesting to see what team Roeder selects.

Here’s a possible team for the game:

Given
Solano Gooch Moore Taylor
Milner Parker Butt Duff
Martins Dyer

Subs: Harper, Carr, Bramble, Babayaro, N’Zogbia Sibierski

Certainly it looks a strong team (and bench) on paper but we all know Newcastle can be frustrating and inconsistent this season.

I’d be surprised if Roeder doesn’t include Carr in the starting eleven since he seems to favor him (not sure why).

Also N’Zogbia will be pushing for the wide left midfield spot but apparently Duff has played well for Ireland last week – so we’ll see if he can reproduce that form for the club. It would certainly be very welcome.

For the future Milner and N’Zogbia look really exciting prospects for the wide midfield positions.

Every Newcastle fan will be hoping for a comfortable win and a clean sheet - and if that happens things will be looking up on Sunday morning.

Let me know what team you think Roeder will select for tomorrow - now that he has almost a full squad to choose from.