West Ham vs Newcastle United match banter and preview!
Posted on May 4th, 2013 | 110 Comments |
Date: Sat 4th May, 2013.
Kick off: 3.00pm.
Referee: Phil Dowd.
UK TV: None.
Well it’s all starting to come to the boil now, with Newcastle United still uncertain of their future in the Premier League next season.
For the second time since Derek Llambias became Managing Director in June, 2008, the Magpies face the abyss. As events unfold in East London, it will be tempting to cast the occaisional glance at events over at the Hawthorns too, where West Brom will be taking on our game in hand relegation rivals, Wigan.
It could well be two very familiar faces who cause us the most problems this afternoon with West Ham’s two top goalscorers, Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan putting old allegiances aside. Carroll in particular has has come into some good form after recovering from his last injury. In his last four games, Carroll has scored four goals for the Hammers and seems to be back to his old self again.
Team news.
Newcastle United: Mathieu Debuchy is suspended for this game after his sending off against against Liverpool, with Tim Krul and Davide Santon both out, along with long-term absentees Ryan Taylor and Haris Vuckic. Sylvain Marveaux will be highly doubtful with his latest groin mishap, but Captain, Fabricio Coloccini should definitely be making an return after recovering from his back injury.
ps: Late team news appears to indicate that Moussa Sissoko may have picked up an ankle injury too, but we shall see when the team sheets are posted.
West Ham: George McCartney (knee) and James Tomkins (calf) will be missing for this one.
Last six Premier League results (latest first).
| Team | Results | Pts |
| West Ham | D | W | D | D | D | W | 10 |
| Newcastle United | L | D | L | W | L | L | 4 |
What the managers have been saying.
Neil McDonald (West Ham assistant): “I think it’ll be a tough one. I think they’ll come and keep it nice and tight. They’re on the verge of getting involved (in the relegation battle) but personally I think they’ve got enough points. They’ll try to keep a clean sheet and get something on the counter-attack. When Newcastle’s January signings first came in they hit the ground running. They’ve gone through a little sticky patch at the moment but I’m sure they will come through it, just after Saturday.”
Alan Pardew: “The group is very much together. We have the destiny of ourselves in our own hands. We’re not in the hands of anyone else – only us can put it right. We’ve got a little gap so we need to exploit that and make sure we extend it. I haven’t even looked at the run-ins of the other clubs because it’s very, very important that you focus on yourself. We put a poor performance in last Saturday and we need to put that right. That’s the most important thing.”
So now it’s that time again when I shall give you my usual reminders about posting team sheets and links to watch the game online, along with highlights, post match interviews and a video of the whole game when it’s all over so watch this space!
Howay the Lads!
Team sheets.
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Jussi Jaaskelainen (G), Guy Demel, Winston Reid, James Collins, Joey O’Brien, Gary O’Neil, Mohamed Diame, Ricardo Vaz Te, Kevin Nolan (C), Matt Jarvis, Andy Carroll.
Subs: Stephen Henderson, Emanuel Pogatez, Matt Taylor, Jack Collison, Mark Noble, Joe Cole, Carlton Cole.
Newcastle United (4-3-3): Rob Elliot (G), Danny Simpson, Steven Taylor, Fabricio Coloccini (C), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Yohan Cabaye, Cheick Tiote, Jonas Gutierrez, Hatem Ben Arfa, Papiss Cisse, Yoan Gouffran.
Subs: Steve Harper (G), Mike Williamson, James Perch, Dan Gosling, Vurnon Anita, Adam Campbell, Shola Ameobi.
Poll
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
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Let’s hope we play with the appropriate level of motivation today!