It has felt like a long time since Newcastle last played a game, but on Saturday the Magpies will look to reignite their Champions League charge as they face a beleaguered Wolverhampton Wanderers side.
Both sides come into the contest on the back of big defeats, Newcastle were thumped 5-0 at White Hart Lane by Tottenham Hotspur, while Wolves' 5-1 home defeat to local rivals West Bromwich Albion signalled the end of the road for Manager Mick McCarthy.
The Black Country club will head to St James' Park with former assistant Terry Connor in charge. Connor has been promoted to the top job after Wolves' quest to find a new boss quickly turned into a fruitless farce. Meanwhile Alan Pardew's side is likely to be at full strength, with both Cheick Tiote and Yohan Cabaye set to be restored to the starting lineup in the centre of midfield.
The strike partnership of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse should also strike a considerable amount of fear into the Wolves' defence. Ba is edging ever close to the 20 goal mark, while Cisse made a spectacular start to life of Tyneside when he struck a vicious volley into the net to seal victory for Newcastle on his debut against Aston Villa three weeks ago.
Newcastle were 2-1 winners at Molineux back in October, when goals from Ba and Jonas Gutierrez proved to be enough to take all three points. There was controversy however, as Kevin Doyle's potential late equaliser was ruled out by the linesman, who adjudged that the ball had already crossed the byline before Adam Hammill delivered it to the head of the Irish international.
Wolves do possess a good amount of talented players such as Doyle; Hammill; Matt Jarvis and Nenad Milijas, and they will certainly present Newcastle's backline with a significant threat. Still - although you can never afford to be complacent in football - the Geordie faithful will be hopeful of a comfortable win given the circumstances surrounding the game.
It is now up to a strong and rested Newcastle side to deliver, and banish the nightmare of their White Hart Lane horror show from memory.
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