Newcastle v West Ham - Match Preview

This weekend’s game against West Ham looks like an intriguing one. With the visitors exceeding most people’s expectations by sitting fifth in the table, it promises to be a very different Hammers team tomorrow than that which provided Newcastle with a rare victory to ensure their survival in the Premier League on the final day of last season.

Although Newcastle only drew with Manchester United on Tuesday, the manner of how they got the point made it feel more like a win. To find themselves two goals down with only a few minutes to go until half-time, before managing to get back on level pegging, having the stuffing knocked out of them again by conceding a late goal, only to dig deep and find a barn-storming finish, equalising in the 90th minute, meant that although all draws get one point, this felt like a bigger point than most.

The key word for the Magpies this weekend is momentum. They need to start this game with the level of performance they found at the end of Tuesday’s – and for much of the second half to be fair – and maintain it throughout. Take the positives from what was a decent showing, and use the impetus gained from it to start winning football matches.

It’s not just the players though. The fans finally found their voices on Tuesday. After many flat, lethargic and largely inept performances from the team, it is only natural that the fans have been a little more subdued in recent weeks. However, if the players can carry on the momentum, then so too can will the fans.

All they want is the eleven players on the pitch at any time to give their all, shirk no challenges, and show some commitment and pride in the black and white shirt they are wearing. Do all this and the fans will respond.

With Henri Saivet and Jonjo Shelvey available for selection following their transfers this week, it is sure to be an interesting team selection from Steve McClaren. Cheick Tioté is unlikely to be involved, with a move to China in the offing, so there appears to be an immediate vacancy in the midfield for one of them. Whether McClaren decides to start both of them or not just adds to the intrigue surrounding this game.

I think he will throw Shelvey straight in, and play him alongside Jack Colback in the middle of the park, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Saivet start on the bench.

I have said in previous articles that I have not been a Shelvey fan in the past, and I could never see what other people saw in him. Now he lines up in a Newcastle shirt, and as long as he is wearing that, and giving his all, I will back him 100 per cent. I will judge him on how he performs for us, and it will be interesting to see if there is more to his game when watching him live, than I have seen when watching him on TV. I used to feel the same way about David Batty, and then realised when watching him in person, that the work he did without the ball – the stuff that the TV cameras do not pick up – was immense. If Shelvey turns out to be as good a performer as that, then I, and most Newcastle fans, will not be complaining.

With Newcastle’s inability to defend set-pieces on many occasions this season, it may well turn out to be a blessing that a certain Andy Carroll injured his hamstring during the Hammers impressive 3-1 victory at Bournemouth on Tuesday. I can only imagine the havoc he would have caused our defence in the air. However, the absence of Carroll is countered by the return of their little maestro Dimitri Payet. In the reverse fixture at Upton Park, he tormented the Newcastle defence from the first minute to the last, scoring both goals in a 2-0 win.

If Newcastle fail to deal with him this weekend, then a similar outcome is likely. Hopefully the management team will not underestimate him second time around, and they will surely have devised a game-plan to nullify the Frenchman.

However, West Ham have more strings to their bow than one player. They have a fantastic team-ethic, constantly work for each other, and every single player on the pitch knows what their role is, and what is expected from them. Under the guidance of Slaven Bilić, they are playing good football, and currently excelling.

They currently sit fifth in the table, and remarkably, only Tottenham (3) and Leicester (2) have less defeats than their four. While Leicester have been receiving all of the plaudits, the Hammers have quietly been going about their business, picking up points and becoming serious contenders for, if not the Champion’s League, then definitely a Europa League slot.

In the Premier League form guide, they are the only team not to have been beaten in the last six games, and have only lost twice away from home all season. However, their form in their last six away games gives more encouragement for Newcastle. They have only one once in those games – the win at Bournemouth on Tuesday.

It promises to be a fascinating game, and should be an entertaining one. It will need to be too with temperatures expected to be a frigid 2°C by kick off.

Prediction: Newcastle 2-1 West Ham

Hopefully an exciting game, with the impetus of a good comeback midweek, along with the lift of a couple of new signings providing the spark for a much-needed home win.

My predicted line-up:

Elliot

Janmaat Mbemba Coloccini Dummett

Colback

Sissoko Shelvey Wijnaldum

Pérez

Mitrović

Ref Watch: Neil Swarbrick

Having only taken charge of seven Premier League games this season, the Preston official has brandished an incredible 33 yellow cards, which translates to almost five (4.71) bookings per game. He has also shown two red cards.

This will be his first game involving Newcastle this season, but he took charge of West Ham’s 2-2 draw against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in October, during which he showed six yellow cards (2 SAFC & 4 WHU) and one red card, dismissing Sunderland’s Jeremain Lens for a second yellow card offence.