West Ham United vs Newcastle United

London Stadium forms the backdrop for an exciting Premier League showdown between West Ham United and Newcastle United.

West Ham established a comfortable 16-point cushion on the Premier League bottom three after winning their last two league matches without conceding. That’s a noticeable improvement on five defeats in Graham Potter’s first six competitive games in charge (W1) as they bid to make it three top-flight wins on the trot for the first time since 2023. However, the Hammers have notoriously struggled against current top-six teams this season, losing seven of their nine such clashes (W2), including all four on home turf via multi-goal margins. If they can buck that trend, West Ham would put themselves in a position to complete a first league double over Newcastle in six years following a 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture. 

Meanwhile, injury-hit Newcastle United must set their priorities straight ahead of next weekend’s Carabao Cup final as they head into proceedings keen to close a five-point gap to fourth-placed Chelsea. However, the Magpies have recently faltered in the Premier League, suffering three defeats across their last five matches (W2), including a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool a week ago. Having lost consecutive away league games via an aggregate score of 6-0, Eddie Howe’s charges are staring down the barrel of three straight top-flight losses without scoring on the road for the first time since 2020/21. Yet, Howe enjoys facing West Ham, considering he has only lost twice in 13 touchline encounters against the Hammers (W5, D6) while being beaten by Potter once in five managerial H2Hs (W3, D1).