Ham United later today. Before the real sides take the pitch at London Stadium, a FIFA 20 simulation gave a glimpse at how this one could play out.
Sean Longstaff is out suspended, while Matt Ritchie and Fabian Schar are not ready to return from injury. With those omissions, we went with a Newcastle United 3-4-3 lineup of Dubravka, Lascelles, Clark, Fernandez, Yedlin, Hayden, Shelvey, Willems, Almiron, Joelinton, and Saint-Maximin. On the bench, there was M. Longstaff, Darlow, Gayle, Manquillo, Atsu, Dummett, and Carroll.
Twice in the first twenty minutes of action, Joelinton swung the ball out wide to Allan Saint-Maximin rather than take shots from the edge of the box. Both times, the cross from ASM was comfortably cleared by defenders. At the half-hour mark, a long through ball from Jonjo Shelvey saw the French winger running in behind the defense, but the West Ham goalkeeper beat him to the ball and ended the chance.
In first-half stoppage time, two memorable milestones came on the same play. Miguel Almiron dribbled into the area and his cut-back pass found Saint-Maximin for a goal, a first goal/assist for both attacking players at the club.
Early in the second half, West Ham held almost all of the possession. They passed the ball around the middle of the park, occasionally getting close to the penalty area before an inevitable Newcastle clearance. The first substitution from Steve Bruce was sending Dwight Gayle on for Joelinton. Shortly after, DeAndre Yedlin had a great pass into the area that Gayle couldn’t control in front of goal.
Despite the missed opportunity and only a sliver of possession, Newcastle United held on for the 1-0 away win.
