West Ham United travel up north to face Newcastle United in the Premier League today. The Hammers are in the relegation zone, two points behind 17th-place Tottenham Hotspur, and know that anything other than a result in their penultimate game would make the preservation of their Premier League status near-fatal.
The Irons have stuttered in May after putting together an unbeaten run last month, with their defeat against Arsenal last weekend emphasising the nature of their season as Callum Wilson’s late equaliser was chalked off after a VAR review.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s team remain hopeful. Eddie Howe’s Newcastle have only won once in their last six Premier League matches, with the chance for West Ham to capitalise on a dead rubber game for the Magpies.
Newcastle United vs West Ham – Statistics
Newcastle has lost more points from winning situations than any other Premier League team this season (27), while earning fewer points from behind (3). In contrast, the Hammers have conceded the most penalties in the Premier League this season, with seven.
Newcastle have kept only one clean sheet in their past 14 Premier League matches.
Nuno’s first win as head coach came against Newcastle in November. West Ham have not won consecutive road games against Newcastle since February and October 1998.
The Hammers have failed to score in three of their last four Premier League matches, on a run without a goal in their last two.
Wilson scored twice for West Ham vs Bournemouth in November. Only two players have scored 2+ goals in a match vs two different former sides in a Premier League campaign – Chris Wood in 2023/24 (Burnley and Newcastle) and Nicolas Anelka in 2006/07 (Arsenal and Man City).
The Hammers won this exact fixture 2-0 last season, but Newcastle haven’t suffered back-to-back home defeats against them since February and October 1998.
The Opta supercomputer still gives West Ham an 81.5% likelihood of relegation, but if they can defy the odds at St James’ Park, where they have a 29.8% victory probability against Newcastle’s 46.2%, that figure will undoubtedly fall.
