West Ham skipper Mark Noble says they go to Newcastle United on the back of excellent preseason form.

For Noble, it is imperative that his team take that momentum into the season proper as they aim to get their 2021/22 campaign off to a positive start.

"I think it's important anyway to get points on the board early doors," he explained. "It's such an important part of the league, the first five or six games. It gives you a real foothold in the league if you get a few wins.

"Newcastle away is a tough, tough place to go, so I think it'll be an entertaining first game and hopefully we can come away with the points.

"The boys have looked strong in pre-season and hopefully we can carry that on to Sunday afternoon."

On a personal level, every game promises to be special for Noble this term as he embarks on his final season as a West Ham player. It is something he is going to relish every moment of.

He also told whufc.com: "Europe is going to be great - I think it's going to other places, seeing other stadiums and playing against some of the best players. For my last season it's pretty special, but it's something that we can try to enjoy but go into a mindset of why can't we go on and do something special this season in this competition? Hopefully that's what we're going to do.

"My main aim is to stay fit, have a strong season and try to get as far as we can in the Europa League."