The teams are in for the evening fixture at St James’ Park as Newcastle host struggling West Ham in the 5:30pm kick-off.
Newcastle will be aware that Manchester United will be ahead of them in the table come kick-off (It is 2-1 to Manchester United at the time of writing) which should add an extra incentive to get the three points today, not that Howe’s lads need much more of an incentive than their love of winning these days.
Eddie Howe has been forced into changes this week as Bruno Guimaraes serves the first of this three-match ban following his red card against Southampton.
As suspected, Howe looks to have brought Joelinton back into midfield and has gone with Allan Saint-Maximin down the left of the attack.
HOWAY NEWCASTLE! ✊#NEWWHU pic.twitter.com/hTezvzTzcI
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) February 4, 2023
New boy, Anthony Gordon has made the bench and could be in line to make his debut this afternoon, however Harrison Ashby won’t feature in any way shape or form against his former club. Alexander Isak is also missing from the squad following his concussion he picked up on Tuesday.
The Wilson/Antonio deal is on as Michail Antonio is named in the starting line-up for West Ham.
Your Hammers for #NEWWHU ⚒️ pic.twitter.com/69qZTAJYk2
— West Ham United (@WestHam) February 4, 2023
The Hammers also have Declan Rice back and Jarred Bowen supporting Antonio, so they are definitely capable of causing us problems.
However, we are far from a one-man team these days so losing Bruno Guimaraes, as much of a blow as that is, is not the footballing armageddon that losing a top player used to be, and as such, Newcastle should absolutely have too much for West Ham today.
Score prediction: Newcastle 2-0 West Ham