OPINION
Newcastle United won three games on the bounce after their victory over Burnley on Monday, and they can easily make it four league wins in a row against West Ham on Saturday.
The Magpies overcame the Clarets at Turf Moor thanks to an own goal and a winner from Ciaran Clark, who formed one part of the surprise back five Rafa Benitez deployed in this game due to the absence of Paul Dummett.
United were not at their best on Monday, making life rather difficult for themselves after having to resort to finding a winner – and even though the back five were effective in blocking out any danger, Benitez must not use a 5-4-1 formation again.
If the players that Benitez selects are up to standard one again then there is no reason why Newcastle cannot blitz the Hammers – but it should be a tactical, rather than personnel switch, which the Spaniard invokes.
In goal, Martin Dubravka must start as normal after a relatively mistake-free start to the season.
In front of him, Benitez must drop his previous system of a back five and deploy the preferred back four, which means that Matt Ritchie needs to move into the midfield, after playing as a left wing-back against Burnley.
DeAndre Yedlin, Fabian Schar and Federico Fernandez must all retain their places in the defence, with fringe figure Clark – who is on £35,000-a-week [Spotrac] – remaining in the starting XI but shifted into the left-back role after an assured display earlier in the week.
The midfield duo of Mo Diame and Ki Sung-Yueng must also be retained, with both players really feeding off each other well in that position.
Ritchie will start on the wings alongside Kenedy, who has improved somewhat in the last few games in order to warrant his place in the team.
Up front, Salomon Rondon must start after proving to be effective before the international break, as the likes of Joselu are just not up to the job.
