Lovenkrands scored his first hat-trick since 2005 on Wednesday

Newcastle forward Peter Lovenkrands hopes his FA Cup hat-trick against Plymouth will earn him a start against West Brom in Championship showdown.

The Denmark international, 29, scored the only goals as the Magpies clinched their place in round four.

"We have so many good players up front and we need to have the best team out there," he told BBC Newcastle.

"I'll just hope it was enough to get me to start the game. It was really exciting to get the hat-trick."

Lovenkrands has now scored five goals this season but faces competition from Shola Ameobi, Nile Ranger and Andy Carroll to start on Monday.

Newcastle lead third-placed West Brom by six points in the league.

And the former Rangers and Schalke player is looking forward to their St James' Park meeting next week.

"It's going to be an exciting week," Lovenkrands said.

"Monday's game (against West Brom) is probably the biggest game of the season so if we get three points we're looking good."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version