Drop fears grow for West Ham after home defeat to Newcastle
Published:Avram Grant has admitted that West Ham are stuck in a season-long relegation battle after their five-match unbeaten run was brought to an abrupt end by a 2-1 home loss to Newcastle.
The Irons are in to 5/4 to be relegated after a dismal display in which the early lead obtained through Carlton Cole’s second goal of 2010 lasted just nine minutes courtesy of Kevin Nolan, whose housemate Andy Carroll later popped up with a deserved winner in the second half.
It was a match the east Londoners could ill afford to lose as it leaves them three points from safety with tough trips to Arsenal and Birmingham next up and their Israeli coach was forced to accept that “this is the position we will be in all season”.
But while the hosts suffered the latest in a long line of televised humiliations, their former player Chris Hughton, whose future at St James’ Park has ridiculously been questioned recently, was able to celebrate moving five points clear of the drop.
Newcastle’s second away league victory of the campaign saw them drift to 9/2 to go down, while match-winner Andy Carroll is 80/1 to be Premier League top goalscorer after boosting his tally to five.
The other side promoted automatically from the Championship look in no danger of an instant return, as West Brom climbed to fourth with a 2-1 triumph over Fulham.
Blackpool are 2/5 to finish in the bottom three though after a 2-0 loss to Birmingham. See the full Barclays Premier League football betting odds market here.
