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

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

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

Consider this team went on to leapfrog Real Madrid into the sixth spot in the Champions League rankings following a 2-0 win against Athletic Club at St James' Park just days later.

It was their fifth consecutive home victory, but that was not cause for celebration for Howe.

The upcoming visit to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle look to finally address their road struggles after not securing a victory on the road in the league since April.

"It's hugely frustrating because I think we have a style of play and a game plan that is effective, that's really effective," the Newcastle manager said.

"For whatever reason we have not been winning the games away from home that we should 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 players were certainly made aware of it earlier this week.

There was no place for the squad to hide as they were subjected to what back Dan Burn described as a "very painful" 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.

"You have got to 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 score first with a powerful header, always knew that Newcastle would bounce back against Athletic.

The hosts hardly needed any added motivation to contest a Champions League match under the lights at St James'.

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

And results certainly back those words up.

Newcastle have defeated Athletic, Tottenham, Fulham, Benfica and Nottingham Forest by an aggregate scoreline of 11-1 on their own turf in the last month alone.

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

Each by a solitary strike.

Away-Day Blues

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

Newcastle have only won four league games on their travels 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 ball control away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe's team have had 30 fewer touches in the opposition box (110) and they have only had 50% fewer 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 foundation 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 visitors have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That defensive effort starts with the forward pressure, 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 often circumvented on the road in recent weeks.

Burn has spoken of the need to "be a bit more ugly", referencing how his side were "renowned a few years ago for something-housery."

Howe recognised his side "might require a bit of that" ahead of Sunday's trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the "skill, delivery and, above all, the attitude".

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

"The only way we can answer those questions is to play well and get the job done."