Pablo Zabaleta is hoping for victory tomorrow afternoon at St James’ Park as West Ham look to earn their first points of the new Premier League season.
The Argentine and his team-mates travel to Teeside off the back of consecutive top flight defeats – first against Manchester United and most recently Southampton – but will be hoping they can turn their fortunes around against the Magpies.
And the former Manchester City defender – who has plenty of experience playing against Newcastle from his time with the Citizens – believes the Hammers can be confident going into the clash.
“It’s a tough place to go but it’s a crucial game for us and for them, as both teams lost their opening two games of the season.” said Zabaleta speaking in the Chronicle Live.
“We are looking for our first Premier League win of the season. It’s a shame that we lost the last game at the end, but there were a lot of positive things to take from Southampton, especially our attitude and the spirit of the team.
“We all know each other better and we have players coming back from long-term injuries, so we will improve.”
Despite having lost their previous two Premier League fixtures, Slaven Bilic’s side were able to secure their first victory of the campaign in mid-week against Cheltenham Town, conquering the League Two side 2-0 in a comfortable win that sees them progress safely through to the third round of the Carabao Cup.
That confidence boost, as well as the return of both Manuel Lanzini and Cheikhou Kouyate will both be positives going into the weekend’s clash against Rafael Benitez’s side.
“I’m really confident that the team will improve in the next few games, but we need to get a good result this Saturday.”
