The match - Newcastle v West Ham United

West Ham are the visitors to St James' Park this evening as both sides aim to put some more distance between themselves and the bottom three.

Both teams won their last fixture, both against teams who are near the bottom of the table, and there is a sense that a win for either side in this game could be the springboard needed to push on and secure Premier League survival.

The big team news for the home side is regarding our attack as Shola Ameobi misses out through injury to be replaced by Leon Best who makes his first Premier League start in the black and white stripes.

There is no live UK coverage of this game, although if you happen to stumble upon any links where a fellow Toon fan can watch the match online then please feel free to share it with us and leave a link to it in the comments section below.

If you would like to read a more detailed background of the fixture including injury news, form guides and a bit of a 'stat-attack' for both sides, then please feel free to read my match report.

Also, I'd like to apologise for the relative shoddyness of this article, and the relative lateness of it. As you all know, this place has not long opened up so it is resembling a bit of a mess at the moment, kind of like when you move into a new house. It will get there in the end though.

Team news is as follows.....

Newcastle: Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Cheik Tiote, Kevin Nolan, Jonas Gutierrez, Peter Lovenkrands, Leon Best.

Subs: Tim Krul, Shane Ferguson, James Perch, Mike Williamson, Danny Guthrie, Wayne Routledge, Nile Ranger.

West Ham: Rob Green, James Tomkins, Matthew Upson, Tal Ben-Haim, Danny Gabbidon, Freddy Sears, Scott Parker, Mark Noble, Radoslav Kovac, Frederic Piquionne, Carlton Cole.

Subs: Ruud Boffin, Winston Reid, Valon Behrami, Jonathon Spector, Zavon Hines, Pablo Barrera, Victor Obinna.

Howay the lads!