Newcastle United host West Ham in a huge Premier League match-up in the race for European qualification.
Victory would lift Newcastle up to eighth in the table, whilst West Ham will stay seventh with a win unless can beat the Magpies by at least four goals – which would put them up to sixth until Saturday evening at minimum.
Team News
Sven Botman is ruled out for Newcastle after he suffered a season-ending knee injury in their FA Cup Quarter-Final exit against Manchester City.
Harvey Barnes (hamstring), Kieran Trippier (calf) and Valentino Livramento (ankle) could be in contention.
Lewis Miley (back) is ruled out and joins Nick Pope (shoulder), Sandro Tonali (suspension), Callum Wilson (chest) and Joelinton (quad) on the sidelines.
West Ham will be without Edson Alvarez for their next two matches after he picked up his tenth booking of the season in the 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.
Maxwel Cornet (hamstring) and Mohammed Kudus (knee) are doubtful for selection.
When is Kick-Off?
Newcastle host West Ham at St James’ Park on Easter Saturday 30 March at 12:30pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Newcastle have avoided defeat in eight of their last nine meetings against West Ham (W4, D4, L1).
- West Ham are unbeaten in four of their last five league visits to Newcastle (W2, D2, L1).
- Callum Wilson has scored in each of Newcastle’s last two home matches against West Ham (D1, L1).
- Anthony Gordon has scored in three of Newcastle’s four matches at home in 2024 – having only failed to score in a dramatic 4-4 draw against Luton in February.
- David Moyes’ Hammers have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last nine league matches (W2, D4, L3).
Prediction
With the league now representing Newcastle’s sole hope of European qualification, Eddie Howe’s Magpies need to knuckle down and start delivering stronger performances because they looked tame in their FA Cup loss at Man City with not much quality until the game was effectively over.
West Ham meanwhile simply weren’t clinical enough to beat Villa due to some bad luck with VAR decisions but despite still having the Europa League, David Moyes’ Hammers can’t afford to relax in case that European qualification path fails so I do expect a strong performance here.
I however do expect this game to be tight because Newcastle are difficult to keep quiet at home but West Ham currently are in the driving seat for that final European qualification spot, so a draw might look like a fair outcome.
Prediction: Newcastle 1-1 West Ham
Result: Newcastle 4-3 West Ham
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