“This is a nightmare” - Paul Merson predicts Newcastle vs West Ham
Newcastle United take to the hallowed turf of St James' Park for the final time this season on Sunday as they host West Ham United in the 5:30pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.
The Magpies are essentially playing for pride at this point. Even though they could technically still scrape into the Europa Conference League, there have been suggestions that they'd be better off not bothering.
West Ham, meanwhile, are still fighting relegation, and it's between them and Tottenham Hotspur for who will head to the Championship.
This has led a lot of Newcastle fans to reach out to Hammers fans on social media to say they wouldn't begrudge them the win at the weekend, as they'd rather see the Hammers survive and Spurs relegated.
Merson expects a comfortable Toon win
Meanwhile, Paul Merson isn't subscribing to that train of thought; however, he has told Sportskeeda that he doesn't think it will matter all that much in what is perhaps his shortest ever ramble on a match prediction.
"This is Newcastle's last home game of the season and I expect them to beat West Ham. It's not entirely bad news for West Ham because I can't see Tottenham beating Chelsea.
“So West Ham are not out of the race to avoid the drop and it will go down to the last day of the season.
"This is a nightmare game for West Ham. Even though Newcastle are down in 13th, the crowd at St James Park will be up for it.
"Prediction: Newcastle United 2-0 West Ham United"
Sorry, Hammers fans
We obviously can't speak for the entire fanbase, but we reckon the vast majority of us would find it amusing to see Tottenham and their world-class stadium in the Championship next season, right?
If that can still happen after we win on Saturday, then I can live with that. If Hammer needed to win to ensure that happening, I could probably accept a defeat to facilitate that act of pure comedy.
As things stand, though, and with it being our last home game of the season, I'd definitely be very happy with Merson's prediction.
