West Ham vs Newcastle Prediction & Lineups: Alexander Isak starts for the Toon

West Ham and Newcastle go head-to-head at the London Stadium in just under an hour's time, live at 8pm on Sky Sports Main Event.

The big news for the visitors is the return of star striker Alexander Isak who has been declared fit to start, while West Ham are unchanged.

Read on for Oli Nixon's match preview and predictions.

After Man City dropped more points on Saturday, victory in this game can move Newcastle level with the champions in what could prove to be a Champions League place at the end of the season. Eddie Howe’s men will be keen to get back to winning ways having lost three of their last four games in all competitions but it will not be easy up against a West Ham side who have won consecutive Premier League matches for the first time this season.

Since taking over at West Ham, Graham Potter has favoured the use of wing backs, a system reliant on combative central midfielders to provide defensive protection. A constant in that midfield has been Edson Alvarez who has been assigned the role of midfield destroyer, breaking up opposition counter attacks by any means necessary.

The Mexican is no stranger to a pragmatic approach, averaging 1.3 fouls per game across his career for club and country and under Potter, his numbers have seen a sharp increase. This season, he’s averaged 2.17 fouls per 90, however, for his new boss he’s made 20 fouls in just eight Premier League starts, landing this bet in five of those. He also made two fouls in this fixture last season and so has previous against the Magpies.

Newcastle are the Premier League’s third most fouled side, drawing 12.6 per game and in particular, a large percentage of these fouls come in the middle of the park. Across their last ten matches in all competitions, opposition central midfielders have combined for 27 infringements with at least one of them having two or more fouls in five of those. Alvarez will be battling with Joelinton, Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, a trio who are fouled 6.27 times per 90 between them and so there’ll be plenty of opportunities for him to mistime challenges.

If we’re banking on Alvarez to draw the referee’s attention, it makes sense to look at his foul match-up prices and in particular, the most likely player for him to bring down is likely to be Bruno Guimaraes. The Brazilian is the most fouled player in the Premier League, drawing 31 more than any other player at an average of 3.42 per 90. Across his last ten matches in all competitions, he’s been fouled a massive 31 times and so will be drawing plenty of Alvarez’s attention.

These two have only met on one occasion, in this fixture last season where Alvarez fouled Bruno once. However, Edson’s recent data under a new manager coupled with Bruno’s penchant for getting kicked makes this feel like the perfect storm to land a foul match-ups bet. 

West Ham vs Newcastle Starting Lineups

The starting lineups for West Ham vs Newcastle are now available to view in the graphic below.