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

On Sunday, Eddie Howe's squad suffered a bruising 3-1 loss against lowly West Ham at London Stadium.

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

To think this team 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 consecutive home victory, but that was not reason to rejoice for Howe.

Sunday's trip to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle aim to finally address their road struggles after failing to win 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 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 cycle 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.

They had nowhere for the team to hide as they were put through 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.

"Sometimes you must have some uncomfortable conversations and the manager is skilled at doing that. He is always very honest 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 home side hardly needed any extra incentive to contest a Champions League fixture under the lights at St James'.

In his matchday 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 outcomes certainly support that claim.

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

They have a 70% victory rate at St James' this season. That statistic should be even better - last-minute goals proved costly 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

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

Newcastle have only won four matches on their away trips in 2025 and they have looked lacking sharpness of late.

Howe's side have scored a mere fraction of the goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have scored less (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy's opener against West Ham was a uncommon instance of this side being ruthless away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had struck the post.

Though Newcastle have had more ball control 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 highlights the challenges they have faced penetrating defenses.

Newcastle could at least rely on their solidity as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following clean sheets against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their first three road matches of the season.

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

That backline work starts with the forward pressure, but Newcastle have won the ball on eight fewer occasions (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 "well-known a few years ago for physical play."

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 "skill, delivery and, above all, the attitude".

"It comes down to playing a game of football and producing a good performance – regardless of where we are playing," he said.

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