Newcastle United Match Preview

West Ham United have had two away wins in the FA Cup recently but in the Premier League on their travels, they still haven’t won since August 28. They will hope to get back on track in today’s late kick-off, as they face a trip to St James’ Park where they will be taking on Newcastle United.

The crucial victory over Everton on January 21 saw the Hammers climb up to fifteenth in the table, only to be overtaken a day later. The East Londoners will have to wait and see where they are before they take to the field this evening.

The home side also had a cup triumph of their own just five days ago, as Eddie Howe’s Magpies reached the Carabao Cup final on Tuesday night, thanks to a 3-1 aggregate victory over Southampton. On the other hand, the Irons made sure of their progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup by overcoming Sky Bet League One outfit Derby County a day earlier.

The travelling support will certainly hope that the hosts are still dreaming of winning at Wembley later in the month and David Moyes’ side can claim only their second league success on the road.

West Ham picked up all three points here last season, when the home side were under the stewardship of Steve Bruce, as they eventually won 4-2. Here’s hoping they achieve the same outcome this time around.

However, it will be difficult as the home faithful have not seen their team concede a goal in open play here since September. Not only that, the Magpies are yet to be defeated in front of their home fans.

Łukasz Fabiański, Vladimír Coufal, Lucas Paquetá, Declan Rice and Tomáš Souček are all hoping to start on Tyneside, while Aaron Cresswell and Pablo Fornals are pushing for starts. With Kurt Zouma currently out of action, either Angelo Ogbonna, Thilo Kehrer or Nayef Aguerd will fill in for the Frenchman in defence.

Although Michail Antonio is likely to start the game upfront, the Irons’ boss stated in his pre-match news conference on Friday that Danny Ings may be involved in the matchday squad after a quicker than expected recovery from a minor knee injury. Gianluca Scamacca is still unavailable.

Harrison Ashby could be set for a swift reunion with his former club having left East London to make a Deadline Day move to the North East.

The match is a 5:30pm kick-off with live coverage being screened by Sky Sports from 5pm. The referee is Peter Bankes.