West Ham United vs Newcastle preview - Magpies links spur on Hammers

Posted Friday, January 17, 2014 by PA

West Ham's Newcastle connections will inspire them in search of a win at the Magpies' expense on Saturday, according to assistant manager Neil McDonald.

McDonald played for hometown club Newcastle at the start of his career whilst West Ham record signing Andy Carroll, who has returned to fitness in time to feature in the weekend's Barclays Premier League clash, also began his footballing life at St James' Park.

Hammers' boss Sam Allardyce had an eight-month spell in charge of Newcastle before being sacked in January 2008 and McDonald admits it is always nice to perform well against former employers.

"If you played for a football club and you are then playing against them you want to get one over on them, don't you?" he said.

"I'm 48 now and I played for them in the 80s but I always want to get one over on Newcastle.

"It is Andy's hometown club of course but at the end of the day we have got another 10 players who will be involved in the game, will be wanting to beat Newcastle and everyone will be doing their best to do that."

After last weekend's 2-0 win at Cardiff lifted West Ham out of the relegation zone, another three points against Newcastle would represent the first back-to-back league wins for Allardyce's side since they returned to the top flight.

Newcastle travel to Upton Park having lost their last four fixtures in all competitions and, although McDonald is targeting victory, he is adamant West Ham will not underestimate Alan Pardew's side.

"They've had a couple of bad results, but having said all of that they're still in the top half of the league," he said.

"They're still a very, very good team who've got some exciting, dangerous players. We've done our homework on them, we've got a game plan for them, we know their strengths and weaknesses and we have to exploit those weaknesses.

"It goes without saying that it would be six points out of two games and that's certainly what we're trying to do."

Midfielder Mark Noble is once again expected to captain the Hammers with regular skipper, and another ex-Newcastle man, Kevin Nolan serving the last of a four-game ban.

The 26-year-old Noble scored the second goal at Cardiff and believes everyone at the club is pulling together to make sure they survive in the Premier League.

"At Cardiff, you could see from the way the lads worked, and with Kevin and James Collins travelling with us, that we're all together," he told the club's official website.

"The whole squad was happy for each other and that's what you need when you're in the position that we're in. It was nice to get back on the scoresheet. I enjoy getting forward but obviously the position I play in means those opportunities are quite rare."

The returning Carroll, who played his first minutes of the season after appearing as a late substitute, set up the decisive goal and Noble is delighted to have the England striker back in action.

"You could see in the pictures of the celebration that Andy was buzzing," he added.

"It was like he was holding a little boy - he just held me up with one arm and put the other arm in the air. It was a nice picture and nice for him to come back, set up a goal and be involved in a win. Hopefully we can have many more of them."

Defender James Collins and forward Ricardo Vaz Te are also in contention for the Hammers.

Newcastle boss Pardew has hit back at former referee Graham Poll's criticism of him following his touchline bust-up with Manuel Pellegrini.

The 52-year-old found himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons last weekend after his four-letter rant at the Manchester City manager in the wake of Cheick Tiote's controversially disallowed equaliser.

Newspaper columnist Poll agreed Tiote's strike should not have been chalked off by match referee Mike Jones, but described Pardew as a "Jekyll and Hyde" character, one who can be charming away from the heat of battle but combustible during the 90 minutes.

Pardew, who apologised for his outburst immediately after Sunday's game, said: "When you sit up there and you have got a cappuccino in front of you and it's a nice afternoon, you can all make wise comments.

"As we all know, when the heat of the battle is on, whether it's tennis, football, American football, we are winners.

"That's what we are paid to do and sometimes in doing that you make a bad tackle, you say the wrong thing, you make a bad judgement - it happens.

"I am on the sideline and make no bones about it, I am going to war and I want to win. Tactically, physically, mentally, I am there to win.

"I'm not there to fight anybody, but I want my team to win and want to see what I think is justice on the pitch, and when you don't see that it can affect you.

"It affected me a little bit, perhaps too much, but I am wrapped up in trying to win.

"Most weeks, I can be very, very calm on the sideline. Sometimes it just doesn't work that way."

Pardew has no fresh injury problems. Full-back Mathieu Debuchy completes his three-match ban, while skipper Fabricio Coloccini continues his recovery from a knee problem.

Midfielder Jonas Gutierrez will also not be involved having left the club to spend the rest of the season on loan at Norwich.