How Newcastle United's new signings have caught the eye ahead of Arsenal fixture

Newcastle United's new signings Nabil Bentaleb, Danny Rose and Valentino Lazaro will all hope to feature against Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday

Steve Bruce has already seen what Nabil Bentaleb, Valentino Lazaro and Danny Rose will bring to Newcastle United and hopes the trio can now 'take it onto the pitch'.

January is a difficult window to do business in as clubs are particularly keen to keep hold of their best players, but Bruce and the Magpies' recruitment team kept a close eye on those individuals who had fallen out of favour at their respective clubs.

Bentaleb had not played a first-team game at Schalke since April because of disciplinary issues; Lazaro had only made four starts at Inter following his summer move from Hertha Berlin; and Rose had yet to start a league game under Jose Mourinho at Spurs.

The trio have been keen to get some game time at Newcastle and are all in contention to play against Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday - which will be a particularly noteworthy occasion for Rose and Bentaleb given their previous experience of playing in North London derbies for Spurs.

"First of all it shows the quality in what we're trying to look for and trying to improve the squad," Bruce told reporters at his pre-match press conference. "As I've said many times since I walked through the door, I won't just add to the squad for the sake of it.

"They have to be a certain quality which can improve us and certainly Lazaro, Bentaleb and Danny Rose will help us because of their quality. We've already seen it in the last week or so, so let's hope they can take it onto the pitch and improve."

Bentaleb has started three games joining Newcastle last month while Rose and Lazaro made their debuts as substitutes in the 0-0 draw against Norwich City two weeks ago.

Bruce previously admitted he 'aired on the side of caution' when it came to starting Rose and Lazaro, 'in case they weren't physically right', but they are now both in contention to start.

"The two new boys come straight into the squad, of course, and they do give me options," he said. "As a manager, the one thing you want is an option. Over the last few weeks, in particular, there has been no options.

"We have been playing people out of position- makeshift if that's the right word? - but to be fair to them, they've still stuck at it and managed to produce a few results so fair play to the squad."

Newcastle were only in the market for a new left wing-back after another loanee, Jetro Willems, suffered a serious knee injury in the win against Chelsea.

Matt Ritchie has filled in since then and Bruce must now decide whether to stick with the 30-year-old or bring Rose into the starting line-up while there could yet be a call to make when it comes to who plays at right wing-back as Lazaro and DeAndre Yedlin battle it out.

"I don't have to explain what Danny Rose is - he's played for England only in September so he's England's left-back in many people's eyes," he added. "It's probably between him and Chilwell, I would have thought.

"He's desperate to go to the Championships in the summer and we hope to see the best of him. Lazaro, if he settles down quickly and gets used to playing in England, then we know we have got a quality player on our hands. It hasn't quite worked out in Italy, but we're delighted we've got him. "