Opposition view: West Ham

After two weeks off, Newcastle United are finally back in action on Monday night in what could be their last trip to Upton Park, before West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium next year.

Ahead of the game, we caught up with West Ham fan Vinny Ryan to discuss the Hammers’ chances and what he makes of Newcastle.

Would you take any Newcastle players at Upton Park? If so, who and why?

A difficult one this as what I would consider your better players we would already have competition for those places in the current West Ham side. The obvious one is Sissoko who clearly is a player of quality.

If you could place one West Ham player from the past in your current team, who would it be and why?

Sadly I am not old enough to say Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking or Billy Bonds so I only go with what I have seen watching West Ham over the last 20 years. With that I would have to choose Paolo Di Canio. He is the most exciting player I have seen at West Ham. A player to excite a crowd with wonderful goals and skill.

Are there any rising stars at West Ham that we should be keeping an eye on?

Midfielder Josh Cullen played took part in some of the Europa League games and looked very good. He has recently signed a new contract and played his first game this week for the Ireland Under 21’s scoring on his debut.

Obviously the one player getting a lot of attention is Reece Oxford who played extremley well against Arsenal on the first day of the season. I am sure he will be in and around the first team throughout the season.

Who is your most important player?

Always a hard question to answer. In goal Adrian is vital and his presence makes us a better team. The prospect of not having him in the side caused much panic amongst West Ham supporters when he was red carded against Leicester.

Winston Reid, Cheikhou Kouyate, and Diafra Sakho are all players that without them the team is severely weakened.

What do you reckon will be the key battle on Monday night?

In the last two home games West Ham have struggled in the full back area and if Newcastle can ask some questions down the flanks it will be interesting to see if the previous deficiencies still remain.

Lastly, your predicted line-up and score prediction: