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If ever a short span that summed up Newcastle United's puzzling season.

This past weekend, Eddie Howe's team endured a bruising 3-1 loss against lowly West Ham at London Stadium.

It was a result that left struggling away Newcastle languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table.

To think this side went on to overtake Real Madrid into sixth place in the Champions League standings following a 2-0 win against Athletic Club at St James' Park a few days later.

That marked their fifth straight home victory, but that was not reason to rejoice for Howe.

The upcoming visit to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle aim to at last tackle their road struggles after not securing a victory on the road in the league since April.

"It's very disappointing because I think we have a style of play and a method of play that is effective, that's highly successful," the Newcastle manager said.

"Somehow we have not been securing victories away from home that we ought to have.

"We find ourselves stuck in that trap where it's turning into an issue of conversation and we're probably becoming more aware of it."

Home Strengths at 'Safe' St James'

Newcastle's squad were certainly made aware of it earlier this week.

There was no place for the squad to hide as they were put through what back Dan Burn described as a "deeply uncomfortable" review meeting in the days after the West Ham defeat.

"We saw how far off we were from what we expect from ourselves," Burn said. "However, that is the best way to learn.

"Sometimes you must have some tough talks and the manager is skilled at doing that. He is always straightforward with what he says."

Burn, who went on to open the scoring with a bullet header, always knew that Newcastle would bounce back against Athletic.

The hosts hardly needed any extra incentive to contest a Champions League fixture under the lights at St James'.

In his programme notes, ahead of the game, captain Bruno Guimaraes even wrote that the stadium was a "secure environment for us where we know we perform at our peak."

And results certainly support that claim.

Newcastle have beaten Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an combined score of 11-1 on home soil in the last month alone.

They have a 70% victory rate at St James' this season. That record should be even better - last-minute goals proved damaging against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these respective title challengers and Barcelona are the only teams to have beaten Howe's side on Tyneside.

Each by a single goal.

Travel Troubles

Yet it has been a very different story away from home.

Newcastle have only won four league games on their away trips in 2025 and they have looked especially blunt of late.

Howe's side have scored a quarter as many goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and last-placed Wolves are the only side to have scored less (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy's opener against West Ham was a rare example of this side being clinical away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had hit the woodwork.

Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe's team have had 30 less contact in the opposition box (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which underscores the difficulties they have faced penetrating defenses.

Newcastle could at least fall back on their defensive strength as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following clean sheets against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.

But the away side have since conceded five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That defensive effort starts with the press from the front, but Newcastle have won the ball on eight less times (16) away than at home (24), while highly-praised midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been repeatedly bypassed on the road in recent weeks.

Burn has spoken of the need to "adopt a grittier approach", referencing how his side were "well-known a few years ago for something-housery."

Howe acknowledged his side "possibly need a bit of that" ahead of Sunday's trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the "quality, delivery and, above all, the mindset".

"It's about playing a game of football and delivering a good performance – regardless of where we are playing," he said.

"Our sole method we can address those doubts is to play well and actually do the business."