9 mins: Henderson trips Lewis Hall – who impresses me every time I watch him, by the way – and Newcastle have a free-kick in a favourable spot here.

8 mins: Jordan Henderson is getting a smattering of boos from the Newcastle faithful for his Sunderland connections. It does sound a bit half-hearted though.

He’s seen a lot of the ball early on as Brentford look to build on their positive start. To say the home team look nervy would be an understatement.

6 mins: It’s been an odd start to the game. Both teams are looking to go very direct.

I don’t want to go all conspiracy theory, but I think most home teams would get that penalty. The fact you can barely hear Brentford’s modest away contingent in the big bowl of St James’s surely does make a subtle difference.

4 mins: At the other end Harvey Barnes lines up a long-ranger, trying to curl it inside the far post, but sets it out a little too far. That was travelling at some speed, mind.

On that penalty check, VAR had a long old look. It really seemed to me that Trippier tugged back Lewis-Potter. Newcastle can consider themselves fortunate.

2 mins: Anyway, the away side have started fairly positively, knocking it about until a long-ball almost finds its way through to Lewis-Potter, who believes he was dragged down trying to latch onto that one.

VAR to check it?

1 min: Brentford’s sky blue and brownish away number isn’t a million miles off Belgium’s recent Tintin-inspired change strip. Jury’s out, for me.

The players are out and we’re almost ready to go. Chris Paraskevas emails in, presumably from Australia/somewhere far away where it’s currently very early in the morning:

This might seem a little pessimistic but at the end of the day, anyone forced to wake up for Kieran Trippier’s ‘set pieces’ (loose definition) at 4:30 in the morning isn’t/couldn’t possibly be concerned with staying positive.

(He’s still predicting a 3-2 win for his team, Newcastle).

Close game in the rugby.

Newcastle still have a formidable home record this season. Before the 2-0 defeat by Aston Villa a fortnight ago, they’d not actually been toppled at St James’s Park in the Premier League since Arsenal beat them 2-1 in September. The FA Cup penalty shootout defeat to Bournemouth and the Carabao Cup shellacking by Manchester City have obviously dented the confidence somewhat, but on their home patch Eddie Howe’s side are strong.

It’s around about this time that I ask you for your score predictions – send them to me via email if you wish.

I shall also remind you that the last three games I’ve live-blogged for the Guardian have brought four goals – two 3-1 home wins and a 2-2 draw. So I’m predicting a 3-1 Newcastle win to continue the trend. Wissa would just love a goal, wouldn’t he? And it’s about time Howe’s boys got back on track at home.

With less than half an hour until kick-off please enjoy this excellent Jonathan Liew read on Newcastle’s PSR and ownership predicament.

The results in the earlier games mean Brentford can still go level on points with sixth-placed Liverpool with a win on Tyneside. Newcastle will jump into the top half if they claim the three points. Fulham and Sunderland losing will give cheer to these two teams for a few reasons.

The middle of the Premier League table is a very fluid situation this season.

The 3pm games are all coming to a conclusion – follow the latest updates with my colleague Emillia Hawkins here.

It is an almighty boost for Newcastle to have Guimarães back in their midfield. They’re just a different team without him. The only downside for Eddie Howe this evening is Anthony Gordon’s absence – the winger hasn’t recovered from a hamstring injury in time to feature.

It’ll be a particularly big night for Yoane Wissa, who is again preferred to Nick Woltemade up front for Newcastle. Wissa was injured for the Magpies’ 3-1 defeat at his former club Brentford earlier in the season.

Igor Thiago has fared pretty well as Wissa’s de facto replacement this season and the Brazilian – who has 16 goals in the league this season – will be key if the Bees are to come away with a positive result this afternoon.