Premier League

West Ham vs Newcastle prediction

West Ham United and Newcastle United will meet in front of an empty London Stadium on Saturday night as both teams will be looking to get off to a winning start to the 2020-21 Premier League campaign.

Steve Bruce’s side finished 13th last season despite picking up just two points from their final six fixtures after their top flight status was confirmed. One of those was a 2-2 draw at home to this weekend’s opponents.

The Hammers went unbeaten in their last four to narrowly avoid relegation themselves and were beaten 2-3 in this fixture last season, albeit way back in November.

Steve Bruce has been busy so far during the transfer market as he looks to build on his squad. Left-back Jamal Lewis can certainly be considered a good move from Norwich City, though having only arrived on Tuesday he may not start on Saturday. The Magpies signed Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser from Bournemouth the day before. The former is a proven goalscorer and the latter a penalty winner.

Jeff Hendrick arrived from Burnley last month. The Republic of Ireland is a solid central midfielder who should help with possession. That could be particularly important versus David Moyes’s side who often employ three central midfielders.

West Ham’s only signing since the end of last season has been Tomas Soucek. The Czech Republic midfielder was on loan last season and proved to be a key player in their survival. An excellent addition to the squad but I feel they still have other areas they need to upgrade in order not to be in another battle to stay up.

Newcastle picked up four points head-to-head last season and I feel they have made the better moves in the transfer market since. I feel they can win this one but the value has to be on laying the home side as they’re odds on.

Best bet: Lay West Ham at 1.97 with Betfair