West Ham player once linked with Newcastle will now miss Premier League clash due to suspension

Newcastle United return to Premier League action on 30th March following the international break when they will take on West Ham United at St James' Park.

The Magpies have recently been shopping in the same aisles as West Ham when it comes to new players with the Hammers seemingly being more convincing when it comes to negotiations with the London club picking up Lucas Paqueta, Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Kalvin Phillips who were all once linked with a move to Newcastle.

How realistic the links were to those players is up for debate, but we know that Kalvin Phillips was definitely on Newcastle's radar and for a while it looked like Edson Alvarez was being considered as a strong possibility before we signed Sandro Tonali.

Lucas Figueiredo/CBF

Edson Alvarez will miss out on the trip to Tyneside

It's Alvarez who has the misfortune of missing out on the trip to St James' Park after he picked up his 10th yellow card of the season against Aston Villa on Sunday meaning he now faces a two-game suspension. It's the fate that awaits Bruno Guimaraes should he pick up another booking which he has managed to avoid for 10 games now.

The Mexican midfielder earned a huge reputation in Holland playing for Ajax and was seen as the type of battling midfielder we needed to protect our defence. It's really no surprise that he's picked up 10 bookings this season as he loves to get stuck in.

His suspension may now mean that West Ham will have to persist with loanee Kalvin Phillips who has hardly set the world alight since his move from Manchester City. A bullet dodged by Newcastle who refused to pay the loan fee.

Phillips is bound to have his best game ever against us

Of course, it would be the most Newcastle thing ever for Phillips to have the game of his life against us, but we'll see what happens at Easter.

We fancy the chances of our lads getting beyond Phillips more than we would do Alvarez for sure, the other thing we'll need to do is keep Lucas Paqueta quiet as he always seems to show off in front of his bestie, Bruno Guimaraes.

The only other injury facing West Ham is the long-term absence of Maxwell Cornet, otherwise, they have a fairly full squad to pick from barring any injuries picked up on international duty.

Meanwhile, Newcastle still have plenty of players absent but will be hoping that Harvey Barnes and Kieran Trippier will be available for selection again.