Newcastle United will return to action in the Premier League this evening, hosting West Ham United at St James’ Park.
The long-awaited return of Premier League football at St James’ Park is over for Newcastle fans as they prepare for their clash with West Ham this evening.
The Magpies have not kicked a ball since November 10th when they took a confident and comfortable victory away from the City ground over Nottingham Forest, so the supporters will be in a strong voice as they return for their first home clash in over three weeks.
Newcastle fell into ninth over the weekend as the rest of the league played out of their fixtures, but they have an incredible opportunity to jump all the way up to fifth if they can beat their struggling visitors under the lights tonight.
The Hammers visit in terrible form with just three wins from their first 11 fixtures in the Premier League under new manager Julen Lopetegui, and the Spaniard will be desperate to take something away from his visit to Tyneside as pressure mounts on his immediate future in East London.
In terms of injuries, Eddie Howe has been vocal in his pre-match press conference about the potential return of Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier who have returned to full team training and could be in contention to be available for the clash.
Jamaal Lascelles, Emile Krafth and Sven Botman are all ruled out as they continue their rehabilitation, whilst Dan Burn will also miss out through a one-game suspension due to a five yellow card tally.
How could Newcastle line-up against West Ham?
Nothing but Newcastle predicts that Howe will make just one change to his starting eleven that won 3-1 over Nottingham Forest, maintaining his classic 4-3-3 formation against the Irons.
The one change we expect Howe to make will be the inclusion of summer signing Lloyd Kelly, to replace Burn while he serves his one-match suspension.
In the defensive set up, we predict that Pope will remain, while Lewis Hall, Fabian Schar and Tino Livramento retain their spots in the starting line up.
In midfield, Joe Willock will continue to prove his worth on the left side, while Sean Longstaff and Bruno Guimaraes also remain to complete the unchanged midfield trio.
Brazilian sensation Joelinton has been a joy to watch on the left wing, and has given how the opportunity to offer Willock more minutes in the centre of the pitch, so we expect him to remain on the left side which means Anthony Gordon continues to make his impact in the attacking threat on the right side.
While there is hope that Wilson will finally return to the squad this evening after being unavailable for selection the entire season so far, we still expect to see Swedish striker Alexander Isak to keep his place in the centre-forward role, especially after his incredible form in front of goal for his nation during international break.
With all considered, there is no reason why Newcastle can’t capitalise on West Ham’s plight especially in front of a sold out home support, anything other than three points taken from the fixture will be disappointing.
