West Ham look to do the double over Newcastle United when welcoming them to the London Stadium next week.

West Ham were handed a boost over the weekend with news that Newcastle United could be making the trip to the London Stadium next week without the services of the ever-impressive Lewis Hall.

The full-back was not included in the Magpies’ matchday squad to face Brighton on Sunday afternoon in the FA Cup. The Newcastle United website confirmed that the player was “not named in the squad at all due to an ankle injury”.

That’s a big blow for Eddie Howe and the North East outfit, who make the journey to take on West Ham in a week for both clubs’ next Premier League action. Hall has enjoyed a head-turning season on Tyneside, earning his first England senior call-up in November.

Newcastle United confirm injury blow

The defender, who is a product of the Chelsea academy and joined Newcastle United on a £28 million loan-to-buy deal in 2023, has made 34 appearances in all competitions already this season. Hall has picked up five assists in that time, offering an important attacking outlet for Howe.

His absence is a boost for West Ham, both in hopes of stopping Newcastle United build up play and finding joy going forwards on the right wing. Hall was recently singled out for praise against Liverpool when going up against Mohamed Salah, despite losing that match 2-0 - Salah didn’t score in that fixture.

Howe told NewcastleWorld: "I think we've worked hard with Lewis in that respect and he's worked hard on his game He's done a lot of work, I can picture him now after training, working on his crosses, his delivery, getting into those positions as well.

"We work a lot on relationships in the team and building those relationships, especially attacking-wise with the players that you're playing with so you get to know each other's game. I think Lewis has attacked really well, he's got a number of assists.

"I still feel there's room for improvement. The attacking play of our full-backs is fundamentally so important to how we play and we want both players to attack and attack regularly. And yeah, we work a lot on the relationships between our wide men and our full-backs so Lewis can be pleased, but I know we want more.”

West Ham look to do double over Magpies

West Ham and Newcastle United last met in November with the Hammers pulling off a shock 2-0 win at St James’ Park under Julen Lopetegui. Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were on the scoresheet that night under the lights in the North East.

Eddie Howe’s side are on the hunt for European football, sitting sixth in the table ahead of the trip to West Ham. Meanwhile, Graham Potter’s side are 15th in the table.

In other news, West Ham are considering a transfer for an attacking midfielder handed his debut by Vincent Kompany.