Newcastle United are looking for a swift response to their 4-0 drubbing at Manchester City when they host West Ham on Saturday.
Alan Pardew s side were completely overrun at the Etihad Stadium last Monday, as goals from David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri consigned them to a heavy loss in their opening Premier League game of the new season.
But Pardew has urged supporters not to overreact to the result against Manuel Pellegrini s side, asking the St James Park faithful to judge his team after home matches with West Ham and Fulham on August 31.
Really and truly it is about the next 37 games particularly the two at home. We need points on the board, he said.
It will be a better measure for us after West Ham and Fulham. Judge us on that. Going forward we would be better judged after the next two games.
Newcastle will be without centre-back Steven Taylor who is suspended for three games after being sent off at City while winger Jonas Gutierrez could also miss out with a hamstring problem.
On-loan striker Loic Remy remains sidelined with a calf injury, while full-back Davide Santon (hip) also remains a doubt.
In contrast to Newcastle s opening-day woes, Sam Allardyce s West Ham earned a comfortable 2-0 win over Cardiff City on Saturday, courtesy of goals from Joe Cole and Kevin Nolan.
But Allardyce, who had a short spell in charge of Newcastle between May 2007 and January 2008, warned his charges not to show complacency.
You cannot ease off, he said. Every time you do that in this league you get punished. We have to be 100 per cent focused and we have to improve our away form from last season, starting with Saturday s game at Newcastle.
Even though Newcastle had probably a poor performance, Alan would say in the end that was only brought about by circumstances and Manchester City being absolutely brilliant.
West Ham have no fresh injury worries, although former Newcastle striker Andy Carroll will not be available against his old club as he continues his recovery from a heel problem, while full-back George McCartney is still sidelined with a knee complaint.
Newcastle lead the head-to-head record in league encounters between the sides by 46 wins to 38, but they will be wary of a repeat of last season s result at St James Park, which saw West Ham come away 1-0 victors thanks to a first-half strike from ex-Newcastle man Nolan.
