Newcastle United set to make alternative arrangements following West Ham match

Following Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester United at St James’ Park, Newcastle will look to consolidate third place in the table when they visit West Ham United on Wednesday evening (8pm kick-off). But instead of returning to the North East after the match, The Magpies squad will remain in the capital in preparation for the cross-town match against Brentford on Saturday (3pm kick-off).

A week after the Brentford match, Newcastle then play Aston Villa at Villa Park (12:30pm kick-off).

“The three away games is an interesting dynamic for us, we've been there before,” the Magpies bossadmitted. “We love playing at home but the results on the road have been consistent.

“We plan to stay in London and try to minimise our travelling and protect the players if you like so we hope to get that preparation right.

“It felt like a long break for us but we utilised that time best we could and now we go back into it with a real physically intense period. We’ve got to try and get in between games right.

"It’s about not training and getting your tactical plan across to the players without fatiguing the players and staying down in London does help us in between that because the travelling can become an issue with late nights, lack of sleep so hopefully we can make sure we get those little details right.”