Newcastle United continue their chase for a Champions League spot Saturday at home against West Ham United in a match where Nick Pope has a chance to become the first English goalkeeper to record seven consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League.
Pope has conceded in only three home matches all season and bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 2.10 for him to shut out another team. The odds are at 5.25 for Lukasz Fabianski and West Ham to keep a clean sheet.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 3rd, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
It’s been an incredible debut campaign for Pope, but the team as a whole deserves a lot of credit as they have worked superbly as a unit to become the best defensive side in the league. Through 20 games, Newcastle have conceded only 11 goals and they haven’t allowed a first-half goal in 16 consecutive outings.
Pope has always been a highly-rated goalkeeper but even he must be surprised by how things have worked out for him at his new club. He is leading the pack in a number of statistical categories, having registered 13 clean sheets with a 0.55 goals-against average and an 83.9 save percentage.
Before Che Adams scored for Southampton in a League Cup clash on Tuesday, Pope hadn’t conceded a home goal since October. Can he now start another shutout streak against a goal-shy West Ham team?
The Hammers spent nearly £100 million on new attacking players in the summer but David Moyes has managed to squeeze only 17 goals out of the team. At the midpoint of the season, only three sides in the league have a poorer scoring record. But maybe a visit to their favorite ground will help to open the floodgates?
West Ham won this fixture 4-2 a season ago and there’s now a chance to get consecutive away wins over Newcastle for the first time since 1998. They have scored 11 goals in their last four visits to St James’ Park, netting at least twice in all of the matches.
The team’s current scoring form has started to pick up as well with seven goals scored in five January outings. Moyes will be delighted with the improvement, although there’s still plenty of work to do to get away from the relegation battle and Saturday marks the start of a vital stretch for West Ham. Following the trip to Newcastle, they face Chelsea and Tottenham in back-to-back games.
