Newcastle vs West Ham: The key football stats ahead of Lopetegui's must-win clash
There’s a huge game at St. James’ Park tonight as Newcastle face West Ham, with Julen Lopetegui under pressure to save his job. Reports suggests that the Spaniard will be relieved of his duties in east London should he fail to pick up a result tonight, and in the weekend’s meeting with Arsenal.
The stats, though, don't make for great reading for Lopetegui and the Hammers. Newcastle are unbeaten in 10 of their last 11 home meetings with West Ham, and won this fixture last season. While the Magpies don’t have the best home record in the division, winning just three of their five league games in front of their fans, they have also conceded just three home goals, and one of those was a Dan Burn own goal in a 2-1 win over Tottenham; no team has shipped fewer.
West Ham haven’t been particularly effective in front of goal either having netted just 13 times in England’s top tier this term, the fourth fewest in the division. Jarrod Bowen is the club’s top scorer in the Premier League this season with just three goals to his name, but even he’s netted just once in nine meetings with Newcastle.
Bowen is one of four players to have netted multiple league goals for Lopetegui’s side in 2024/25, of which Mohammed Kudus is one. The Ghana star, however, remains suspended until next month after his ban was extended. What doesn’t bode well for West Ham is that they are among the lowest away scorers in the division having netted just five times on their travels.
They come into tonight’s game winless in four away league matches, losing their last two to Tottenham and Nottingham Forest, conceding seven times in the process. West Ham are also conceding the fourth most shots per game (16.3) and conceding the third most fouls per game (13) in the Premier League, the latter they really need to improve upon having shipped the third most goals from set pieces (4) in the league.
Newcastle, who have now won three on the spin, should face few issues in defeating West Ham tonight, and we’ve predicted the Magpies to secure a 2-0 win in front of their fans.
