Paul Merson has had a bit of a nightmare in his preview of Newcastle United’s trip to West Ham on Monday Night Football.
Results over the weekend have seen the Magpies drop to ninth in a tightly-contested European battle. However, victory over the Hammers tonight would see us climb back to at least sixth, and give us some much momentum coming into the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
Injuries (Hall and Botman) and suspensions (Gordon) will see numerous omissions from Eddie Howe’s squad on both trips to the capital this week, though ‘Merse’ seems to think the situation is even more bleak than the already less than ideal situation.
Arsenal legend Merson has claimed Newcastle are set to be without an injured Alexander Isak when they take on West Ham, despite Howe having confirmed the Swede is “fine” and fit to play after training all of last week.
The status of Anthony Gordon also appears to have confused Merson. The 24-year-old winger saw red for violent conduct in the FA Cup against Brighton and will serve the second of his three game ban against Liverpool – not sidelined with an injury as Merson claims.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Merson has had this to say ahead of the game, explaining why he’s backing the Hammers to win this two to nil:
“It’s a hard game for Newcastle,” he said. “They are only two points off a European place at the moment, but if the teams around them win like I expect, they will drift further away.
“Some big players like Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Lewis Hall are likely to miss out on this game with injuries and that’s a massive blow for Newcastle.
“If it weren’t for the cup final next week, I would have backed Newcastle. I think they will be cautious about more players picking up injuries and that might hurt them against West Ham.”
**Merson’s prediction:** West Ham 2-0 Newcastle
Merson’s comments may be right that the players may take a cautious approach to the West Ham game with the final in mind, but Howe confirmed on Friday that he’ll pick his strongest team and won’t entertain ‘resting’ anyone, so a strong side will be fielded.
Newcastle will aim to improve their league form when they play West Ham to gather momentum for the Carabao Cup final, with it vital we bounce back and build momentum after four defeats in our last six league games.
Talk of whether Howe will rest and rotate his first team with an eye ahead to Wembley was swiftly dismissed by the Mags manager, who said:
“Our Premier League form is hugely important to us and we need to get back on track in that respect. We need to feel the momentum of winning and the best chance we have of winning any cup is to go into the game feeling as good as we can. The only way to feel good is to win, so we will pick our strongest team.
“Resting players doesn’t even come into my head. If you think a player not playing for two weeks before a huge game is good for them then that’s not the case. They need regular football to give them the best chance of being fit, but also performing, so those players will play.”
“We can’t lose that focus on the Premier League. Despite the outside noise (on injuries and the final next Sunday), I see a determination to do well in the game.”