Nick Pope restored to starting XI - Eddie Howe's team news is out as Newcastle United take on West Ham United

Newcastle United will play West Ham United at the London Stadium tonight. Kick-off is 8pm live on Sky Sports.

Eddie Howe has gone strong with this starting XI to take on the Hammers as many had expected, in fact we almost got this one spot on were it not for our desire to see Martin Dubravka continue in goal over Nick Pope.

The debate as to whether Joelinton would be pushed up to play left wing ahead of Harvey Barnes has been settled with Eddie Howe opting for the former Leicester City man.

In our pre-match chat today, a couple of us in the office believed that it would have been a massive message sent to Harvey Barnes if he wasn't selected in the absence of Anthony Gordon, so this shows that Howe still has faith in his £39 million man.

Alexander Isak leads the line for Newcastle tonight

Joelinton will start the game but in his familiar role in the middle of the park along with Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali.

Alexander Isak has got the nod over Callum Wilson as expected, but Wilson is a good option to have on the bench given his history with West Ham.

At the back, Howe has gone with Tino Livramento on the left over Matt Targett with Kieran Trippier starting on the right which, again, is what we expected he'd do.

Lucas Paqueta is on the bench for West Ham

Former Toon targets Jean-Clair Todibo and Jarrod Bowen start for the Hammers along with Mohammed Kudus who was also linked with Newcastle at one point this season.

Lucas Paqueta, another former alleged Newcastle target has to make do with a place on the bench, but we're sure we'll see him on the pitch going toe-to-toe with his best mate, Bruno Guimaraes at some point.

West Ham are playing well under Graham Potter and will provide a very strong test, it's one Newcastle are capable of overcoming provided they remain focused on the task at hand and not the final on Sunday.