England Premier League
Saturday 12th September 2020
Kick off at 8pm BST
Venue: London Stadium
Match Preview:
There are rumours of unrest between the West Ham squad and the owners of the club, that is a negative. The positive is that the squad are fully behind David Moyes, and that is what will really count in getting off to a good start to the season and not facing a relegation threat like the Hammers did for the majority of last season.
There’s been quite a clear out at West Ham with 11 players leaving, two new faces have arrived in the form of Michael Forbes and Remy Coddington. But Hammers fans will be pleased that the club tied up a permanent deal for Tomas Soucek who really impressed on loan.
West Ham played 4 pre-season games and won 3 of them, and scored lots of goals, in fact they netted 14 times although their last game at home to Bournemouth ended in a 5-3 defeat.
Newcastle’s summer has been overshadowed by a Saudi takeover that never happened. The club will now launch an appeal against the FA’s decision and that could get tasty. On the pitch the Magpies have made some interesting additions. Callum Wilson comes from Bournemouth for £20m and Jeff Hendrick has been able to join on a free from Burnley.
The Magpies had a mixed bag in pre-season and would have been disappointed to have lost their last two games against Middlesbrough which they went down 5-1 and then Stoke by 1-0.
Team News:
West Ham: Manuel Lanzini has a knock but it is thought to be minor and he is in the running for this game. He is the Hammer’s only major injury concern ahead of their first game.
Newcastle: Both Ciaran Clarke and Paul Dummett have been ruled out through a lack of match fitness after injuries. Dwight Gayle looks set to miss the rest of the year with his knee after injuring it in a friendly. Matt Ritchie has a knock and is only 50/50 for this game. Jonjo Shelvey could return after a knee injury
West Ham vs Newcastle Head to Head:
Last season Newcastle won this fixture 3-2.
Newcastle have scored 5 goals past West Ham in their last 2 games.
6 of the last 7 meetings have seen over 2.5 goals.
Newcastle’s Jonjo Shelvey has scored in the last two meetings v West Ham.
West Ham vs Newcastle Prediction:
There are goals in these games, and it was interesting that the stat stayed that way even without fans when the teams played at the end of the season back in July.
West Ham are at home and if the team play like they did with fight and passion towards the end of the season there is no reason to think they can’t win this game. But this is a match that could tell us if that fight really remains? Was it because the team were fighting relegation or that Moyes had found the right balance and tactics? Newcastle can be dangerous too and given this is a match between two equal sides in essence and the first game of the season we will look into the goal markets.
West Ham vs Newcastle Betting Tips:
Both teams to score at 1.72
Over 2.5 goals at 1.91
Anytime goalscorer: Michail Antonio at 2.62
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