The Magpies travel to relegation candidates West Ham on Wednesday evening as we enter a crucial stage of this seasons premier league season.
Both sides picked up wins in their last encounters, Newcastle battered the Red Devils at St James’ Park and the Hammers defeated fellow relegation candidates Southampton to move one point clear of the bottom three.
Just seven points separate the bottom nine clubs, the victory over the Saints for David Moyes’s men could be crucial in their bid to remain in the Premier League for another year.
Nayef Aguerd’s first half strike was enough for the Hammers to come away with the win and avoid defeat in each of their last four games in all competitions. They home form in recent weeks have been pretty impressive too, they are unbeaten in six on home soil and that includes four clean sheets.
Whilst their run at home recently is impressive, they have only won seven of their 27 top flight fixtures this season so far and have conceded 34 goals to date. When Eddie Howe’s Magpies come out to play at the London Stadium, the Hammers could struggle to extend their clean sheet form.
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Newcastle took one step closer to being achieved with their victory over Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United side on Sunday afternoon thanks to two second half goals from Joe Willock and Callum Wilson.
The Magpies didn’t even break sweat at St James’ Park as they held their defensive line and limited their visitors to only one measly shot on target for the full game, a vast difference compared to 22 shots on target for the hosts.
Newcastle have rediscovered their form in recent weeks after a five game winless run during February and March. Seeing off Man Utd extended their run of successive Premier League wins to three with scalps over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest being the other two. Their clean sheet on Sunday also means that it is now 13 for Nick Pope and the title for best defensive record so far this season remains at SJP.
West Ham United Team News: Lukasz Fabianski will likely keep his place between the sticks which means that understudy Alphonse Areola will have to make do with a slot on the bench. Danny Ings is poised to lead the line in place of Gianluca Scamacca who is recovering from a knee injury. Jarrod Bowen, Said Benrahma, Lucas Paqueta and Declan Rice will all start.
Newcastle United Team News: Miguel Almiron remains out through injury which likely means that Jacob Murphy will keep his place out on the wing opposite Allan Saint-Maximin as they support Alexander Isak. Joelinton could be made to sit on the bench from the start following the dominating performance by Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock and Bruno Guimaraes against the Red Devils. The back line of Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Dan Burn will continue to defend Nick Pope.
Sutty’s Match Prediction: I predict an easy victory for the Magpies at the London Stadium to make it four successive victories in a row. Eddie Howe’s side are back in top form and if they play like how they did against Man Utd then they should easily come away from the capital with three points in the bag. My score prediction for Wednesday night… West Ham United 0 Newcastle United 3.
@jsuttonwrites
04.04.2023
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