Tomer Hemed is relishing the chance to silence a massive home crowd – after hitting the goal trail for the new season.

The Albion striker netted his first open-play goal of the campaign in the midweek League Cup tie at Oxford.

Now he fancies a very different challenge at Newcastle in front of the second biggest attendance to ever watch an Albion league fixture, home or away.

Hemed, who also converted a penalty in the Championship win over Rotherham, said: “Personally I like this kind of game.

“We are ready to go there. There will be a lot of people at the game and we need to concentrate on our job, not think about all the things around.”

Hemed has found increased competition for attacking places this year, having been an automatic choice along with Sam Baldock early last term.

He said: “I think I can be happy with my start to the season.

“I’ve played three games, almost 90 minutes. The last one, I came off the bench.

“It’s normal to take a few games to get the sharpness but I feel better and better in every game.

“The feeling is that the squad is stronger now than a year ago.

“What happened last season has given us confidence.

“It’s a good feeling to know we are more or less the same players, same team, same style but with some more good players added.”

The record attendance for an Albion league match is the 52,641 who watched them lose 2-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford in the top flight in 1979-80.

Their goalless draw at promotion rivals Tottenham in the second tier attracted 48,613 to White Hart Lane in 1977-78.

Newcastle’s opening attendance, against Huddersfield, was close to capacity at 52,079.