Jeff Stelling predicts West Ham United vs Newcastle United result for Sky Sports
Jeff Stelling has predicted West Ham to fall to defeat against Newcastle when they visit St James’ Park in the Premier League this weekend.
The Hammers head to the North East on Saturday (4 February) following back-to-back 2-0 wins in the league and the FA Cup, which has lifted some of the pressure off David Moyes.
But the Irons are only a point outside of the relegation zone still and Stelling expects that pressure to be put straight back on with the same scoreline going against them against Eddie Howe’s side.
In his Super6 predictions for Sky Sports the host said: “Newcastle will record their seventh successive Premier League clean sheet in a 2-0 win over West Ham.”
Testing times
The win over Everton on 21 January saw opposition manager Frank Lampard lose his job, but Moyes might not be far behind if he doesn’t sustain signs of improvement.
February looks like it could be a pretty bruising affair, with Chelsea and then Tottenham to come after the trip to Newcastle.
Whether the hierarchy at the London Stadium will take into account the difficulty of those matches when they judge the manager remains to be seen, but for the sake of the league table he could do with producing one of the upset performances he has so often over the past couple of years when facing the supposed big sides in England.
The Magpies will be buoyed by reaching their first Wembley final since 1999 by overcoming Southampton in the Carabao Cup.
But despite their hugely improved fortunes since the Saudi takeover they have only actually scored once in the Premier League since the turn of the year.
The problem for West Ham is that, as Stelling points out, they haven’t conceded any, so with an injury crisis up front that saw Michail Antonio kept in East London during the transfer window it is going to be a big ask to breach their defences.