St James’ Park awaits – Newcastle v West Ham preview | OneFootball

Welcome to the Newcastle v West Ham preview.

Monday 25th November 8pm

Newcastle host West Ham in yet another televised encounter this Monday evening and look to win their fourth match in a row in all competitions.

They’ll be playing a struggling Hammers side who will be hoping to ease away from the bottom three.

With this match coming exactly one month before Christmas Day, will the Toon’s Scrooge-like defence ensure victory for NUFC, or will we be gifting West Ham an early present in the form of three points?

Form

Newcastle have won their past two league games with fine wins at home to Arsenal (1-0) and away at Nottingham Forest (3-1).

In our past six premier league matches however, we have only picked up eight points from a possible eighteen. The recent victories (including a superb 2-0 defeat of Chelsea in the League Cup) provide the perfect springboard for a run of form that could fire us towards the European places.

Before the weekend’s fixtures, there were only four points separating third and thirteenth place. United could find themselves anywhere between either, depending on results elsewhere.

West Ham have an identical recent form these last half dozen PL matches to NUFC, with two wins, two draws and two defeats.

They have however, only taken one point from their past two matches and currently sit six points behind Newcastle having only won three matches all season. They could find themselves between twelfth and sixteenth in the league come Monday night.

Last time out

Newcastle enjoyed a brilliant result and performance away to Nottingham Forest, coming from behind to secure a 3-1 win with all of our goals coming in the second half.

Strikes from Isak, Joelinton and Barnes ensured a memorable away day as the Toon fully deserved their victory in one of the best performances of our season so far.

West Ham however, were left disappointed and frustrated in an uneventful 0-0 draw at home to Everton, that came off the back of a shocking 3-0 defeat away to Nottingham Forest.

Stat Attack

In the past ten meetings between the two sides at Gallowgate, Newcastle have won five, drawn three and only tasted defeat on two occasions.

West Ham have beaten United only four times in twenty six premier league visits at St James’ Park.

Newcastle have scored three or more goals at home against the Hammers on no less than eight Premier League occasions.

The last five home matches against West Ham have seen the ball hit the back of the net an astonishing twenty six times. That’s an average of over five goals per game! Newcastle have racked up fourteen of these with West Ham contributing twelve.

Memorable match

On the last day of the 2014/15 season, defeat for the Toon against West Hamm coupled with a Hull City victory over Man U, would demote NUFC to the Championship for the second time in just six years. The tension across the entire city was cranked up in the first forty five minutes as Newcastle struggled to break down West Ham, whilst Hull City had two early efforts in the net but thankfully disallowed. At half-time, both matches remained 0-0.

The next forty five minutes would belong to one man only. Jonas Gutierrez was already a legend on Tyneside for the way he’d so bravely battled cancer to return to football and today he was the man to ensure Newcastle avoided relegation. In the 54th minute our hero broke free down the left and floated a delightful cross towards Moussa Sissoko to slam home a header at the Gallowgate End to send the entire stadium into ecstasy.

Our man wasn’t done there. With only five minutes to play he picked the ball up, ran towards the West Ham goal and buried a simply glorious effort into the back of the net, to cause scenes of utter pandemonium!

Even better was the fact that he ran to the halfway line (swinging his shirt round his head) to direct a few choice words to Mike Ashley, that would have certainly tested out the bleep machine on ‘Match of The Day’ had the supporters’ celebrations not been so loud. Fantastic stuff!

The word legend is totally overused in football but Jonas Gutierrez is a true inspiration. We salute you sir! Final Score: Newcastle 2-0 West Ham.

Played for both

Kevin Nolan is most fondly remembered on Tyneside for his four derby goals against arch-rivals Sunderland including a hat-trick in a superb 5-1 victory. He went on to play for West Ham and even had the cheek to score the winning goal at the Gallowgate End for the Hammers in 2012.

Robert Lee is one of the best players to have ever represented Newcastle in the Premier League era. His place in our history books is assured as the last Toon player to score at the old Wembley stadium – Unfortunately, his brilliant header came in an undeserved 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea in the 2000 FA Cup Semi-Final. He signed for the Hammers near the end of his career and played fourteen league matches for them.

Demba Ba was signed for United following West Ham’s relegation of 2011 and proved an integral part of our qualification for Europe in 2012. Memorable moments include hat-tricks in 3-1 wins over Blackburn and Stoke, as well as a simply glorious volley that set the tone for a 3-0 victory over Man United in one of the highlights of the season.

Managers

Eddie Howe after a fine 3-1 away win against Forest:

“The Premier League is really, really tight this season and you need consistent victories and it can really elevate you. Everyone is searching for a formula that guarantees them victories.

“We’ve looked much more like ourselves in the past few games. I still feel there is more to come and we can improve, and we’ve got room to improve. We needed some momentum.

“We always say how quickly football can change and your fortunes can turn”

Julen Lopetegui after a 0-0 home draw with Everton:

“Our aim was to win the match and we deserved to win. We had enough chances to do so.

“Pickford was their best player in my opinion. He made three or four saves, very good saves, and we also hit the post but I think that despite this, I was not happy with the first-half because we can’t give the opponent forty-five minutes.

“Okay, we defended well but it was not enough. That’s why I was not happy with the first-half.”

Charity

Newcastle United fans food bank will once again be collecting opposite the Gallowgate end and gratefully receiving food, money and toiletries for those in need. Of particular interest are non-perishable food and drink items (such as noodles, pasta, rice, canned food, soup, cereal, cordial, long life milk etc) as well as toiletries such as shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste and sanitary products. Please give whatever you can, any donation is very much appreciated.

For further info and/or to donate online go HERE.

St James’ Park under the lights is always a beautiful sight, we’ve had some amazing night matches at the fortress over the years.

I was spot on in my prediction last match (beating Forest 3-1) and I’m backing the Toon again.

We’re hitting a great run of form at exactly the right time, long may it continue. Newcastle 2-0 West Ham.