Mark Lawrenson gives verdict on Newcastle United | OneFootball

Mark Lawrenson has been discussing Newcastle United.

The former Liverpool defender speaking ahead of the match at the London Stadium.

Newcastle United having played thirty six matches in total (all competitions) so far this season.

Twenty one wins, five draws and ten defeats.

Now set to face West Ham away from home on Monday night..

Mark Lawrenson speaking ahead of West Ham v Newcastle:

“West Ham have started to build up a bit of a head of steam.

“While Newcastle are starting to pick up a few problems and they’ll all be thinking about the Carabao Cup final.

“Antony Gordon was a very silly boy at the weekend and he’s out as well, so I fancy the Hammers here.

“They’re doing alright on the quiet and having Jarrod Bowen back for them is so important.

“Prediction: West Ham 2 Newcastle 1”

Whenever people use statistics, it depends when you stop the clock.

Mark Lawrenson says West Ham are building up ‘a bit of a head of steam’, this is a Hammers side that since Boxing Day have lost six of their last ten matches and won only three.

Since Boxing Day, Newcastle have won nine and lost five.

When talking about ‘head of steam’, Mark Lawrenson is of course only focusing on the last two matches, where last time out West Ham defeated Leicester, who have now lost 11 of their last 12 PL matches. The game before that was a 1-0 win at Arsenal, which is of course an excellent result, but at the same time you look at the stats of that match and Arsenal had 20 shots compared to West Ham’s five, the Hammers had no corners and scored with one of just two efforts on target.

As I say, a brilliant result to beat Arsenal, though there again, Newcastle have already done that three times this season! Including a 2-0 win away in January and a 2-0 at home in February, to produce a crushing 4-0 aggregate Newcastle semi-final victory.

Since that most recent win over Arsenal, Newcastle have won with a much changed team at Birmingham and defeated a Forest side who beat Man City yesterday  We have also of course seen defeats at Liverpool and Man City, plus that cup defeat to Brighton, when after a very good 43 minutes when Newcastle should have been two or three goals ahead, everything went wrong that could go wrong.

Have Newcastle suddenly become a poor team and West Ham the opposite?

I don’t think so.

It is up to the Newcastle players to prove that on Monday night and I think they will, even with the setbacks this past week.

The remaining Newcastle United match schedule:

Monday 10 March – West Ham v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Sunday 16 March – Newcastle v Liverpool (4.30pm) Carabao Cup final Sky Sports

Wednesday 2 April – Newcastle v Brentford (7.45pm)

Monday 7 April – Leicester v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports

Sunday 13 April – Newcastle v Man U (4.30pm) Sky Sports

Wednesday 16 April – Newcastle v Palace (7.30pm)

Saturday 19 April – Villa v Newcastle (5.30pm) Sky Sports

Saturday 26 April – Newcastle v Ipswich (3pm)

Saturday 3 May – Brighton v Newcastle TBC