GARETH Southgate says Newcastle United's end of season friendly with Tottenham is not ideal ahead of this summer's European Championships - with the England boss admitting all he can do is hope that none of his key players pick up injuries.

The Magpies face their Premier League rivals in Australia just three days after the season ends and while Southgate admits he understands why such friendlies now have to take place - with clubs doing everything in their power to generate cash to comply with Profit and Sustainability rules - it's still a concern for the England boss.

Kieran Trippier, Anthony Gordon and James Maddison - who could all be in Southgate's squad for the Euros - look set to be involved in the friendly.

"It (end-of-season friendlies) is going to happen more and more," said Southgate.

"Why? Financial fair play means clubs need to generate their own money, so we're in a bizarre world where there's more money in the game than ever before, and yet everyone is scrambling across federations and clubs to generate more.

"The normal way of doing that is to play more games - so is that great news for us, in terms of preparation? No.

"But we're going to have players in the FA Cup final (May 25) probably, the Champions League final (June 1) hopefully and a chance of a few other European finals, so we are used to preparing this way.

"We had to go to Qatar with five days prep, so we adjust to whatever it is and hope there are no injuries from that game."

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Newcastle will play a second game in Australia when they take on an A-League All Stars side on Friday May 24.

Meanwhile, United's Premier League game against Crystal Palace has been rearranged.

The clash was initially scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 16 but had to be postponed because of Newcastle's FA Cup involvement.

It has now been set for Wednesday, April 24 at 8pm, providing another travel headache for Newcastle fans, who won't be able to get a train back to the North East after the game.

Newcastle are still waiting for confirmation of when their game against Manchester United will take place. The trip to Old Trafford was due to take place on the weekend of April 20/21 but Manchester United will now play Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-final on that Sunday.