It felt telling when Eddie Howe said that Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes play the No 6 role differently. The big difference right now, however, is that when Tonali plays there, Newcastle are better for it.
On Saturday against Leicester, for the first time since his debut at home to Aston Villa 16 months ago, the Italian started a Premier League game that the team went on to win.
The mitigation for that is he missed 10 months because of a ban for illegal gambling. There is less extenuation if you consider his performances when available were lukewarm - until now.