The Club was not prepared to allow Papiss to travel to Niger as this would have been detrimental to his clinical condition.

In accordance with FIFA Regulations the Club was more than happy for the player to be examined in England by a doctor of the Federation's choice in order to validate the player's medical condition.

The Federation did not take this option and instead contacted FIFA to ask them to apply the Regulation that effectively prevents Papiss from playing this weekend.

--from NUFC.co.uk regarding Papiss Cisse's exclusion from today's match

That answers a couple of questions, one regarding today's match: FIFA have sided with the Senegal Football Association regarding Papiss and as such have ruled him out for today's match.

Lineups!

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Tim Krul |Danny Simpson, Mike Williamson, Steven Taylor (c), Davide Santon | Hatem Ben Arfa, Cheick Tiote, Vurnon Anita, Shane Ferguson | Shola Ameobi, Demba Ba

Substitutes: Rob Elliot, James Tavernier, Mehdi Abeid, Gael Bigirimana, Romain Amalfitano, Sylvain Marveaux, Shola Ameobi

Swansea City (4-4-2 or 4-5-1): Tremmel | Rangel, Williams, Monk (c), Davies | Britton, de Guzman, Dyer, Hernandez | Michu, Shechter.

Substitutes: David Cornell, Chico Flores, Danny Graham, Wayne Routledge, Luke Moore, Dwight Tiendalli, Kemy Austgien

So as anticipated, Shane Ferguson gets his shot on the left. We'll see how Shola is feeling after a midweek flight across the pond and back. Let's get at it. The club depends on a lively live thread today!

ALSO: Don't forget to register your Prediction League picks up to 5 minutes prior to kickoff!