West Ham v Newcastle predictions: Magpies no longer a soft touch

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

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Newcastle or draw double chance
1pt 5-4 Coral, Ladbrokes

Team news

West Ham
David Moyes says he has a couple of injury concerns but could welcome back Kurt Zouma after he sat out the draw with Leicester. Angelo Ogbonna and Arthur Masuaku are long-term absentees.

Newcastle
Kieran Tripper and Javier Manquillo are out with the injuries they suffered in the win over Aston Villa. They join Callum Wilson, Federico Fernandez and Matt Ritchie on the sidelines but Jamaal Lascelles and Matt Targett are available.

Match preview

Newcastle’s survival push is gathering strength after three straight wins and they look capable of maintaining their unbeaten run at the expense of a flagging West Ham team.

The Magpies opened up a four-point gap between themselves and the bottom three with last weekend’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa and are now as big as 4-1 to be relegated having been odds-on for the drop a little over a month ago.

Significant moves in the January transfer window have been followed by wins over Leeds, Everton and Villa, and Eddie Howe has restored confidence to a squad that was on its knee when he took charge.

Howe has his troops organised too. Newcastle have kept two clean sheets in their last three matches having previously managed only one shutout all season. New recruits Dan Burn and Kieran Tripper have made a big difference in defence, although Trippier will be sorely missed against West Ham.

There are other areas Howe needs to address if he is to keep Newcastle from sliding back into the drop zone, most glaringly in attack. Newcastle can’t keep relying on bagging from free-kicks - they are the first team since Liverpool in 2013 to score a direct free-kick in three successive league games - and they need to find a more reliable source of goals.

Chris Wood has yet to open his account for Newcastle following his arrival from Burnley and looks to be lacking confidence having only scored three times all season. A Hammers side who have conceded more goals than all but one other member of the current top ten could be the answer to Wood’s prayers.

West Ham’s ability to overcome their defensive failings is testament to a never-say-die attitude, which was on show in their last-gasp 2-2 draw with Leicester.

A point was a decent return in the circumstances but a wider problem for the Hammers which could puncture their top four ambitions is fatigue.

Some members of Moyes’s small squad, which didn’t receive the reinforcements it desperately needed in January, are struggling to keep up the pace, resulting in West Ham taking one point fewer (14) than Newcastle over the last ten games.

Jarrod Bowen has registered a goal or assist in six of West Ham’s last seven games, and without his efforts would be falling much faster.

Keeping Bowen quiet will be key to Newcastle’s hopes of claiming a positive result from the London Stadium for a fourth time in the last five visits.

If the Magpies can keep themselves in the game until the latter stages, they could get their rewards. No team have conceded more goals in the final ten minutes of games than this increasingly tired West Ham team.

Key stat

Newcastle have scored in seven of their ten away league games this season

Inside info

West Ham

Penalty taker Michail Antonio
Free-kick wizard Aaron Cresswell
Set-piece aerial threat Tomas Soucek
Card magnet Declan Rice

Newcastle

Penalty taker Chris Wood
Free-kick wizard Jonjo Shelvey
Set-piece aerial threat Chris Wood
Card magnet Jonjo Shelvey/Joelinton

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