The London Stadium awaits – West Ham v Newcastle preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the West Ham v Newcastle preview.

Monday 10th March – 8pm

The travelling Toon Army have to endure a midweek trip to the old smoke, as Sky Sports once again refuse to show even an ounce of compassion or common sense for fans needing to travel huge distances to support their team.

NUFC will be hoping to end Monday night in the top six, after three defeats in their past four league games, whereas West Ham will be wanting to gain the few more points needed to confirm Premier League status for another season.

This is the last Newcastle match before the huge Wembley cup final with Liverpool, fans as well as players would love to go into that one high in confidence having enjoyed an away win against the Hammers.

Newcastle have won just two of their past six league matches. Whilst we’ve enjoyed wins over Southampton and Nottingham Forest, defeats against Bournemouth, Fulham, Man City and Liverpool have proved deeply disappointing.

We’ve scored nine goals in these matches and conceded sixteen. We have however, had some recent respite in the cups, with a run to the League Cup final and two wins in the FA Cup, before a cruel defeat after extra time at home to Brighton.

Newcastle will end this set of fixtures between fifth and ninth in the league (technically, we could end up fourth but would need other results to go our way AND to win by eight goals to get there, something we’ve only achieved on two Premier League occasions).

West Ham are enjoying something of a purple patch, having won their past two matches. They’ve gained seven points from their past six league matches, having beaten Leicester and Arsenal as well as drawing with Aston Villa. Defeats have come at the hands of Brentford, Chelsea and Crystal Palace. They’ve scored five goals and conceded six. They’ll end Monday night between thirteenth and sixteenth in the league.

Last time out

Newcastle hosted Brighton last Sunday afternoon in a disastrous FA Cup defeat, with the winning goal coming late in extra time. Things looked good for the Toon when Isak slammed home a penalty to give us the lead after twenty two minutes. It looked like this had been doubled soon after but unfortunately Isak was flagged offside, after again finding the net.

Former Toon player Minteh equalised just before half-time and the second half promised a place in the quarter-final for the team that wanted it more. With Newcastle pushing for a winning goal, Gordon was sent off in the eighty third minute for a moment of madness that could have huge repercussions for our season, now he’s banned for the League Cup final.

Despite all of this, it looked like the Toon had won it in injury time when Fabian Schar volleyed in to send the stadium wild! Unfortunately, the offside flag cut Toon celebrations short once again and the match went to extra time, where United were unlucky to go 2-1 down and exit the competition.

West Ham have had an eleven day break since a 2-0 win over Leicester City due to their early elimination from the FA Cup. They beat the Foxes with two first-half goals and continue to steer clear of the relegation places.

Stat attack!

Newcastle haven’t lost away to West Ham in their past five visits, winning three, drawing two and scoring thirteen goals in the process.

Newcastle have enjoyed twelve victories away at West Ham in the Premier League era.

Isak has scored five goals for Newcastle against West Ham. He’s only scored more against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, having netted six apiece against both.

IMAGO/Action Plus

Memorable match

In January 2014, Newcastle travelled to West Ham and were grateful to Yohan Cabaye for a fine away win. Our midfield maestro scored early on and then assisted Loic Remy to put the Toon 2-0 up and seemingly cruising towards an away victory.

West Ham however had other ideas and pulled one back just before half-time. They spent the second half pushing for an equaliser. In the ninety third minute, the Toon broke away and were given a free-kick on the edge of the area. Up stepped Cabaye in front of the travelling fans and expertly curled the ball over the wall and in off the post. This was a fabulous away win – Toon fans were in fine voice serenading Cabaye with a song threatening to riot if he was sold!

Ironically, this was to prove a swansong for his time on Tyneside and he left for PSG soon after, as our season disintegrated. Final score West Ham 1-3 Newcastle

Played for both

Shaka Hislop was signed by Kevin Keegan in 1995 and was an integral part of the team that competed for the title in 1996. Shaka would spend the vast majority of his time at NUFC competing for the number one spot, firstly with Pavel Srnicek and then with Shay Given. He spent three years at the Toon with one of his highlights being a 7-1 win over Tottenham where he was, amusingly, absolutely fuming to concede near the end whilst the Toon were 7-0 up. He signed for West Ham in 1998 and had a very successful five years in London, winning ‘Hammer of the year’ after his first season. He’d go on to represent Portsmouth for three years before once again signing for the Hammers and appeared for them in the 2006 FA Cup Final against Liverpool, where his penalty save wasn’t enough to bring home the trophy on a desperately unlucky afternoon, that saw West Ham blow a two goal lead and lose a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw.

Nobby Solano is one of the most successful foreign imports at NUFC in the Premier League era. Signed by Kenny Dalglish in 1997, he soon became the first ever Peruvian to score in the Premier League when netting a fine equaliser against Wimbledon in a 3-1 victory. Nobby made a name for himself as something of a dead ball specialist, scoring a number of free-kicks. One of these was the first Magpie goal under Sir Bobby Robson, a beautiful effort away at CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Cup. He’s also gone down in Geordie folklore as a derby day winner, his penalty giving the Toon a 1-0 success on wearside in 2003. Sold to Aston Villa by Sir Bobby in Jan 2004, he was bought back by Greame Souness in August 2005. Highlights of his second spell at St James’ Park include an incredible winning goal at home to Arsenal and an equally impressive brace in a 2-0 win over Everton. He signed for West Ham in August 2007 and spent one season with them, playing twenty three times and scoring four goals.

Wayne Quinn’s most effective contribution to NUFC was probably missing some glaring chances against us when playing for Sheffield United in the 1998 FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford. Sir Bobby Robson signed him for the Toon in 2000 and was repaid when Quinn scored the opening goal against Lokeren in a 4-0 away win in the intertoto Cup. He played a handful of matches for NUFC but never really made the grade. He was loaned back to Sheffield United and then West Ham, playing twenty two games for the Hammers between 2003 and 2004.

Managers

“It’s a tough one for us to take. It was very bitty, a real physical game for us. It had everything with the red cards as well and extra-time. We thought we’d won it at the end. We had a couple of players feeling the effects of the game. Tino Livramento ended up not being able to contribute so, in some respects, we were down to nine. I thought the other substitutes did really well and gave us a bit more energy, but it was a really tough, physical game for both teams. We could have done better, of course we could. I’m desperately disappointed to have lost. It was a tough contest, both teams gave everything, there were a lot of emotions.”

Graham Potter after a 2-0 win over Leicester:

“It feels good. It’s not easy. The turnaround from the Arsenal game was not that long. Two efforts in five days is big for us. Two clean sheets and six points, so I am delighted. The clean sheet was important. We have conceded too many goals this season. It’s important to stem that. The collective effort to do that was important. We controlled the first half and limited them. Overall we’re delighted and it is a big win for us.”

Charity

As it is an away match, Newcastle United fans will not be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end, for the food bank. However, you can still help out and all online cash donations are very much appreciated. For further info and/or to donate to the food bank online go HERE.

This is a tough one to call. Naturally, Newcastle will have half an eye on the cup final. West Ham however, will be desperate to continue racking up points to confirm top flight status.