🔗 Share this article

Should there be a four-day period that summed up Newcastle United's curious season.

This past weekend, Eddie Howe's squad suffered a heavy 3-1 defeat against lowly West Ham at London Stadium.

It was a result that left travel-sick Newcastle languishing in the lower reaches of the Premier League table.

Consider this team went on to leapfrog Real Madrid into sixth place in the Champions League rankings following a 2-0 win against Athletic Club at St James' Park a few days later.

That marked their fifth consecutive home victory, but that was not reason to rejoice for Howe.

The upcoming visit to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle aim to at last tackle their road struggles after not securing a victory on the road in the league since April.

"It's hugely frustrating because I think we have a style of play and a method of play that is effective, that's really effective," the Newcastle head coach said.

"For whatever reason we have not been securing victories away from home that we ought to have.

"We find ourselves stuck in that cycle where it's becoming a topic of conversation and we're probably becoming more aware of it."

Home Strengths at 'Safe' St James'

Newcastle's squad were definitely reminded of it earlier this week.

There was no place for the squad to hide as they were subjected to what defender Dan Burn described as a "deeply uncomfortable" review meeting in the days after the West Ham defeat.

"It was clear how far off we were from what we demand from ourselves," Burn said. "But that's the best way to learn.

"You have got to have some tough talks and the coach is quite good at doing that. He is always very honest with what he says."

Burn, who went on to open the scoring with a powerful header, always knew that Newcastle would respond against Athletic.

The hosts hardly needed any extra incentive to contest a Champions League fixture under the lights at St James'.

In his matchday notes, ahead of the game, captain Bruno Guimaraes even wrote that the stadium was a "safe place for us where we know we perform at our peak."

And results certainly support that claim.

Newcastle have defeated Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an combined score of 11-1 on their own turf in the last month alone.

They have a 70% victory rate at St James' this season. That statistic should be even better - last-minute goals proved costly against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these respective title challengers and Barcelona are the only teams to have defeated Howe's side on Tyneside.

Each by a solitary strike.

Away-Day Blues

However it has been a completely different tale away from home.

Newcastle have only won four matches on their travels in 2025 and they have looked lacking sharpness of late.

Howe's side have scored a mere fraction of the goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy's first goal against West Ham was a rare example of this side being clinical away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had hit the woodwork.

Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe's team have had 30 fewer touches in the enemy area (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which underscores the difficulties they have faced penetrating defenses.

Newcastle could at least fall back on their defensive strength as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following clean sheets against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their first three road matches of the season.

But the away side have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That defensive effort starts with the press from the front, but Newcastle have won the ball on eight less times (16) away than at home (24), while much-lauded midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been repeatedly bypassed on the road in recent weeks.

Burn has spoken of the need to "adopt a grittier approach", referencing how his side were "well-known a few years ago for physical play."

Howe recognised his side "might require a bit of that" ahead of Sunday's trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the "quality, execution and, above all, the mindset".

"It comes down to playing a game of football and delivering a good performance – regardless of where we are playing," he said.

"Our sole method we can address those doubts is to play well and get the job done."