Newcastle United are about to take on West Ham United at St James' Park - kick-off is at 12:30 and the game is live on TNT Sport.
The team news is in, and two of the 'maybes' have made the squad with Tino Livramento starting at right-back and Harvey Barnes on the bench, however, despite arriving at the ground kitted up, Kieran Trippier sits this one out.
Jacob Murphy is preferred to Miguel Almiron on the right as we expected (time for those I Told You So's in the office).
With Livramento starting over Trippier, we managed to predict 10 out of 11 of the starting line-up which we're pretty pleased with.
Our defence is going to have their work cut out for them this afternoon as David Moyes' side has a lot of pace and firepower.
Jarrod Bowen continues to excel for the Hammers and is in from the start today along with Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus with Michail Antonio up front.
James Ward-Prowse also starts for he Hammers so Newcastle will have to be extra careful to not give away fouls anywhere near the 18-yard box.
Newcastle aren't without their own threats though, obviously. Joe Willock and Anthony Gordon's pace will cause the Hammers defence problems all game, as will Alexander Isak.
Murphy should offer us a bit more in terms of crossing into the area for Isak than Almiron likely would, and with Tino Livramento's ability to get forward, we can give them plenty to think about.
It's going to be a close game but it's one we must win to kickstart the charge for Europe and we feel the three points are there for the taking.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
10 | 13 | 25 |
2 |
Manchester City
|
10 | 10 | 23 |
3 |
Nottingham Forest
|
10 | 7 | 19 |
4 |
Arsenal
|
10 | 6 | 18 |
5 |
Aston Villa
|
9 | 5 | 18 |
6 |
Chelsea
|
9 | 8 | 17 |
7 |
Brighton
|
10 | 3 | 16 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
10 | 1 | 15 |
9 |
Newcastle United
|
10 | 0 | 15 |
10 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
9 | 8 | 13 |
11 |
Brentford
|
9 | 0 | 13 |
12 |
Fulham
|
9 | 0 | 12 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
9 | -3 | 11 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
10 | -6 | 11 |
15 |
Leicester
|
10 | -4 | 10 |
16 |
Everton
|
10 | -7 | 9 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
10 | -5 | 7 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
10 | -11 | 5 |
19 |
Southampton
|
10 | -12 | 4 |
20 |
Wolves
|
10 | -13 | 3 |