Three changes - Predicted Newcastle team to face West Ham tonight

The biggest week of our season has arrived and it feels pretty vital that we get it off to a good start tonight.

In the first of two trips to London this week, Newcastle take on West Ham in the 8pm kick off live on Sky Sports before heading to Wembley on Sunday for the Carabao Cup final.

Results went against us over the weekend and saw us drop to 9th in the Premier League, upping the importance of a win tonight to keep our hopes of a top five (Champions League finish) well and truly alive.

Here's the side we're expecting Eddie Howe to go with and why against Graham Potters Hammers:

Predicted line-up

(4-3-3): Dubravka – Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento – Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Isak, Willock.

We're going for three changes from that FA Cup defeat to Brighton last time out, seeing Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy come in for Lewis Miley, Harvey Barnes and Anthony Gordon; who begins his three-game ban tonight.

Starting with the big one - Alexander Isak - it is a good time to recall Howe's pre-match comments in Friday's press conference. Not only did he confirm the Swede is "fine" and training with no problems, he ruled out the idea of 'resting' players for the final, instead seeing Monday’s game as key to building form, fitness and momentum.

At the other end, Martin Dubravka made a few good stops against Brighton and him starting that game may have been a result of Nick Pope's struggles since returning to the side against Forest and Liverpool.

With Tino Livramento all set to come in at left-back in Hall’s absence, Kieran Trippier should continue at right-back, with Dan Burn and Fabian Schar pretty nailed on at centre-back without Sven Botman. Emil Krafth is a reliable option who could come into Howe's thinking, but I'd only expect him to feature if we returned to a back five.

Harvey Barnes is our only natural left-winger now Gordon is out. However, he’s done very little to impress in recent months – he lacks intensity, goes missing in games and just doesn’t offer enough – so I can see us returning to that left-sided combination of Joelinton and Joe Willock.

This may seem slightly harsh on Lewis Miley, who would then miss out, but I think the two Joe’s will be Howe’s left-side answer in Gordon’s absence, with Jacob Murphy also returning down the right.

Howe rules out 'rests'

Asked if he'll rotate or rest players with Sunday's final in mind, Howe gave an emphatic answer when speaking to the media last Friday:

“No I don’t think so,” Howe said when asked if he’ll rest certain players. “The focus is on West Ham. It’s a Premier League game. Our Premier League form is hugely important to us and we need to get back on track in that respect.

“We need to feel the momentum of winning and the best chance we have of winning any cup is to go into the game feeling as good as we can. The only way to feel good is to win, so we will pick our strongest team.

“Resting players doesn’t even come into my head. If you think a player not playing for two weeks before a huge game is good for them then that’s not the case. They need regular football to give them the best chance of being fit, but also performing, so those players will play.”

How do you see us lining up tonight? Comment below with your predicted line-ups...