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Under-21s Travel To West Ham
Written by Newcastle Utd
Newcastle United's under-21s face West Ham at Upton Park on Monday night
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Seven days after Newcastle lost at West Ham in the Barclays Premier League, Peter Beardsley's second-string will be hoping for a better result when they take on the Hammers at Upton Park on Monday (kick-off 7pm).
The Magpies are still looking for their first Barclays Under-21 Premier League win of the season but performed well against Arsenal in their last match, despite being reduced to ten men for most of the second half when Callum Williams was sent off.
He'll be suspended for next week's clash with Swansea so is available to face West Ham, but Alex Gilliead and Macaulay Gillesphey, who both started against the Gunners, are now on loan at Carlisle. Gilliead set up two goals on his Football League debut against York on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Karl Darlow, who has captained United's second-string in their last two matches, is injured while Jamie Sterry, Lubo Satka, Liam Smith and Tom Heardman are still sidelined.
However, Callum Roberts is fit again while there's a first call-up at this level for teenage defender Gideon Adu-Peprah, who has caught the eye for Dave Watson's under-18s this term.
Admission at the Boleyn Ground is free on the night. The Hammers are hoping for a big crowd and Newcastle's professional development phase coach Ben Dawson told nufc.co.uk: "It would be brilliant for the lads to experience that.
"I know there's normally a big contingent of Newcastle fans down there anyway for the London games, and hopefully they'll see a good game of football.
"Like when Arsenal came to St. James' Park in our last game, it's a great opportunity for the lads to play in at a stadium and they do seem to raise their game when they play at first-team grounds.
"And it's a great opportunity because it'll probably be the one and only time they get to play at that stadium before West Ham move to their new ground next season.
"A Monday night under the lights has a special feel to it and we expect West Ham to try and play passing football, which they did against us last season when we played them in the Under-21 Premier League Cup (when Newcastle won 4-1 at Whitley Park).
"But we can't control how the opposition play or what team they'll put out, so it's more about what we do and if we perform anything like how we did for those 60 minutes with 11 men against Arsenal then we'll be alright."