West Ham United vs Newcastle United verdict, predicted score, key stats and suggested bets
- Matty Briggs
- 4 April 2023
Newcastle United travel to face West Ham on Wednesday evening, with both teams looking for points for different reasons.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Premier League, Wednesday, April 5, Kick-off 8pm, live on Sky Sports
Predicted score
Suggested bets
West Ham vs Newcastle under 2.5 goals
Newcastle to win at West Ham
Key stats
Newcastle are undefeated in 20 of their last 22 PL matches.
Newcastle have scored at least two goals in their last three PL matches.
The last two meetings between these sides have ended 1-1.
West Ham are unbeaten in their last five home PL games.
Team news
Lukasz Fabianski returned from injury to keep a clean sheet against Southampton. With Gianluca Scamacca injured, Danny Ings should continue in attack.
Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma will play as the widemen. The matchwinner vs Southampton, Nayef Aguerd, is a doubt but should be fit.
Joe Willock is a doubt after picking up a hamstring injury vs Man Utd. Miguel Almiron and Emil Krafth are missing. Jacob Murphy will continue to deputise for Almiron on the right wing, while Allan Saint-Maximin is expected to occupy the opposite flank.
Joelinton is back from suspension and he could replace Willock. Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Dan Burn will continue at the back.
Verdict
Eddie Howe has got a terrific level of consistency out of his Newcastle team this season. They strengthened their top-four hopes with a crucial and deserved win over Manchester United last time out and they look charged up for a big finish.
Their only defeats this season have come against Man City and Liverpool (twice) and they are on a three-match winning run.
No team has lost fewer than Newcastle's two games away from home, but Howe's men have seen six draws on their travels. They have rolled over the likes of Nottingham Forest, Leicester and Southampton recently and West Ham fit nicely into that bracket of strugglers.
Newcastle have built a reliable base to play from, with their back four conceding just 10 goals away from home. And in attack, Alexander Isak has scored three times in his last three games and will pose the Hammers a threat.
Newcastle also have threats from out wide and in Bruno Guimaraes they have a man who can dictate the pace of the game.
West Ham got a crucial win over Southampton under their belts last time out but they made heavy weather of it. Newcastle will look back at that game and fancy their chances against a side who have failed to gel.
Goals have not been easy to come by for David Moyes' men and eight of their last 10 matches on home soil have gone under 2.5 goals.
Four times they have failed to score at home and Newcastle look capable of shutting them out for a fifth time on Wednesday night.
There is huge pressure to escape the wrong end of the table and with an unrelenting home fixture list which sees the Hammers yet to face Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd, the job may be too big against the Geordies.
They have beaten just one side in the top 10 at home - Fulham - and Newcastle are a lot tighter unit than Marco Silva's men. The form book says Newcastle and that looks the obvious wager at odds against in east London.
