He was taken off during Thursday night’s 2-2 Europa League draw against Club Brugge to keep him fresh for the challenge. Williamson will line up alongside Steven Taylor in the centre of defence in the absence of captain Fabricio Coloccini.
Alan Pardew: “I took him off (against Brugge), because he’s got Andy Carroll on Sunday, and he says he cannot wait.
“Obviously, if we had injuries, or we were chasing the game, I wouldn’t have been able to do that.
“It was nice for that plan to work out, and for Steven to have 20 minutes, and Willo to have 60.
“It is about winning. We’ve got ourselves in a really good sitatution.
“I don’t know how many games we’ve played, but we ain’t lost many, and that’s how we want to keep it. We don’t want to lose games.
“West Ham are going well.
“When you look at their team, Yossi Benayoun’s been a fabulous player. He played for me at West Ham.
“There’s (Matt) Jarvis on the left. They’ve got Nolan and Andy Carroll up top.
“You can see why they get results. They’re a strong, disciplined team.
“They’re above us in the league, but if we win, we jump above them, so it’s a great incentive.”