Newcastle United versus West Ham United LIVE: crucial game in race for European places

I thought Schar played that forwards then, and if so Gordon should have been offside. The onfield decision is upheld though, and it's Isak to take...

My oh my, what a start! Gordon goes on a jinking sortie into the left of the area, and tries to find Schar. West Ham intercept but the loose ball falls to Gordon; he gets across Coufal, who goes lunging in and through the back of him. VAR are checking for an offside here, I think from when the ball was poked back in Gordon's direction...

We're underway!

The players are milling about in the tunnel, as Hey Jude blares out over the tannoy. Not long now, your referee for all the bonhomie today is Robert Jones.

On the TNT coverage on the telly box, Joe Cole has been weighing up the chances of Jarrod Bowen and Anthony Gordon going to Germany with England this summer. He thinks both will be on the plane. I'm not so sure; those wide forward positions are absolutely loaded for England and they can only take so many. If the squad limit is expanded to 26, as is on the table at the next UEFA canapes and drinks bash, then it's a different story.

There's plenty of firepower out there today, and these teams have scored 105 Premier League goals betweem them so far this season. West Ham will be hoping that Michail Antonio is back on it today; his goal against Aston Villa last time out was his first in the league since August.

The visitors are unbeaten in their last four, which was preceded by a miserable run of six matches without a win. As for Newcastle, it's been a patchy spell; their last 11 reads won three, drawn two and lost six.

Back in October it took a late goal from Mohammed Kudus to earn the Hammers a 2-2 draw, after a brace from Alexander Isak had looked likely to give Newcastle all three points.

This season, Newcastle made their return to Champions League football in a glamorous group with AC Milan, Paris St Germain and Borussia Dortmund. The standard of competition proved too high however, and they finished bottom of the group and out of all European competition. Unless they can vault themselves up the table quickly, there’ll be none next season either.

As for West Ham, they’re ticking along nicely. They won the Europa Conference League last May, and they’re in the last eight of the Europa League this term. Win that as well, and they’ll be in the Champions League next season. It’s been a dizzying run of seasons in Europe for the Hammers, but they’ll be mindful of securing a place at that table via their league for this season, just in case the Europa League pot isn’t added to their silverware.

There’s no Lewis Miley or Sven Botman for Newcastle today as both miss out through injury. Their one change from the team that was knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City before the international break is the addition of Tino Livramento into the back four.

On the West Ham side there’s only one change from their 1-1 draw with Aston Villa a fortnight ago; Edson Alvares is suspended and replaced by James Ward-Prowse.

Newcastle United: Dubravka; Livramento, Lascelles, Schar, Burn; Willock, Guimaraes, Longstaff; Murphy, Isak, Gordon

SUBS: Karius, Dummett, Ritchie, Barnes, Krafth, Hall, Almiron, Anderson, White

West Ham United: Areola; Coufal, Zouma, Mavropanos, Emerson; Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta; Kudus, Antonio, Bowen

SUBS: Fabianski, Johnson, Cresswell, Phillips, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Earthy, Mubama

Referee: Robert Jones

Finish your brunch and then get tucked into this one. If Newcastle can snag a home victory today they’ll up to eighth in the table, just one point behind West Ham; if the visitors can waltz off with three points today they’ll be level with Manchester United on 47 for the season, albeit having played two more games. We’re on the final stretch of the season now and every point counts.

There’s plenty on this one then, let’s get about it with a bit of team news to start.