Newcastle v West Ham prediction: Hammers too classy for Toon

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Newcastle v West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

West Ham
2pts 11-10 Betfred

Team news

Newcastle
Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Isaac Hayden and Ryan Fraser are out.

West Ham
Declan Rice and Michail Antonio are absentees. Angelo Ogbonna and Aaron Cresswell are doubts.

Match preview

Newcastle are finally starting to make a decent fist of their bid to stay in the Premier League but there is still enough of a gulf between them and West Ham to suggest the Hammers are the bet at odds-against.

There's a 23-point chasm between the Magpies and David Moyes' visitors and they are worlds apart in terms of aspirations.

While Newcastle's target over the next few weeks is simply staying in the top division, West Ham fans are dreaming of trips next season to the Bernabeu or the San Siro.

That's not as fanciful as it sounds in a season in which only Manchester City are consistently playing top-drawer football – second, third and fourth place are up for grabs and West Ham are proving they are as equipped as any of the teams around them to claim one of those spots.

Newcastle have basically been rubbish all season and are now clinging to crumbs of comfort, such as the effort they put in when snatching a 2-2 draw at Tottenham a couple of weeks ago.

What followed, however, was another tepid effort at Burnley where they were desperate for an hour, trailing 1-0, and then revived by the emergence of Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson off the bench. Both are capable and match-winners, and certainly the Frenchman was particularly lively in his half-hour stint at Burnley.

The 2-1 victory over the Clarets was massively welcome but the performance really wasn't much.

Burnley troubled them with the pace with which they got the ball into the box and that's what West Ham do so well. They possess speed to burn up either flank, will flummox the hosts with their absence of an out-and-out frontman, and will create chances.

And of late they've been taking those chances. They have scored at least two goals in nine of their last 13 matches and are no longer reliant on an Arnautovic or an Antonio to lead the line. The goals are coming from all areas, though it has to be acknowledged that they let in their fair share as well. Indeed, their games have copped for over 2.5 backers a league-high 20 times.

But David Moyes has struck gold this season with the performances of Craig Dawson, Vladimir Coufal, Tomas Soucek and latterly Jesse Lingard, all unheralded transfers and all in brilliant form, and West Ham are playing like a genuine top-six team.

Indeed, since the opening week of term, when they lost to Newcastle and Arsenal, they have not lost a league match to any side outside of the current top six.

Key stat

West Ham have scored at least two goals in nine of their last 13 league matches.

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