WHEN Matty Longstaff lines up at the heart of the Newcastle United midfield at West Ham United’s London Stadium this weekend, it will feel as though something is missing.

For the first time in his career, the teenager will kick off a Premier League game without his elder brother, Sean, alongside him.

With Sean suspended, following his dismissal in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Wolves, Matty will be flying the Longstaff family flag on his own. Given the tightness of the family bond that binds the two brothers together, it will be a strange experience.

“Obviously, playing with Sean makes things a lot easier given how good he is on the ball,” said Matty, who is likely to find himself starting alongside Isaac Hayden in two days’ time. “He probably gets you out of trouble a bit.

“Obviously, not playing with him, if I do play, would be a bit tough, but we’ve got other good players who could come in. We’ve got good players there, so we’ll just wait and see.”

While Sean established himself as a Premier League regular in the second half of last season, Matty has only graduated to Newcastle’s senior ranks in the current campaign.

He could hardly have wished for a better debut, scoring the winner against Manchester United, but it was inevitable there would be some tougher times in the wake of his performance against Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side.

Like the majority of his team-mates, he struggled to make much of an impact in the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea, but he fared much better in Sunday’s draw with Wolves.

Given his age and lack of experience, his performances will inevitably go up and down, but whereas he started the summer being linked with a loan move to League Two, he will end 2019 as a proven Premier League performer.

“It’s been really good,” he said. “It’s tough, but it’s where you want to be at the end of the day. I think, whenever you get a chance, you’ve got to take it. I don’t think it really matters if you’re 19-year-old or 20-odd years old, when you get a chance you’ve got to try and take it, and I think you have to keep on doing well to stay in the team. The biggest thing for me is trying to carry on doing well.

“I know I’m young, but I feel I can play at this level. I think I need to try and perform to show that. If I keep doing well, I might stay in the team. That’s the biggest thing.”

Bruce’s faith in both Longstaff brothers is highlighted by his willingness to play them ahead of two much more experienced team-mates in the shape of Jonjo Shelvey and Ki Sung-yueng.

Either of those players could have started against Wolves, but Bruce went for his midfield siblings as his side made it four home league games without a defeat.

The Magpies’ only Premier League reverse at St James’ came in their opening home game against Arsenal, and while they are hardly a free-flowing attacking force at the moment, they are clearly extremely difficult to break down at home.

“I think the first half at the weekend was probably the best we’ve been all year with the ball,” said Longstaff. “In the second half, we didn’t really get the ball enough, play in behind them and turn their defenders early on, and that probably cost us.

“We ended up doing a lot of defending. I think we ended up making a few tackles and people getting booked, and then Sean getting sent off came from us not being very good on the ball and probably defending too much.”