I went to three football/soccer matches during my November 2025 trip to London. The 3rd game I went to was between Crystal Palace and AZ Alkmaar in the Conference League, which you can read about here. The match I’ll cover in this post is West Ham vs. Newcastle United at the London Stadium. My previous experience at a West Ham game was their Europa League match vs. Bayer Leverkusen, which you can read about here.
- Background
- Teams involved
- How I got tickets
- How I got to the game
- The game
- Leaving the stadium
- Conclusion
Background
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was in London in November of 2025 and looked for matches I could attend while I was there. I was very happy to realize that West Ham would play at home during my trip. Not only that, but they would face Newcastle United, a team that is playing in this year’s Champions League.
Teams involved
You can read about West Ham in a previous blog post but a new piece of information I’ll mention here is that the team was founded as Thames Ironworks in 1985. Then, in 1900, it was reformed under its current name, West Ham United. This explains why the team is known as the “the Irons” and “the Hammers”. The team’s badge also shows this connection by including two crossed rivet hammers.
Newcastle United competes in the Premier League and is based in the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. The club’s origin can be traced back to 1881 but it adopted its current name in 1892. They play their home games at St James’ Park. Newcastle is a team I’ve known since I was little because of Faustino Asprilla’s time there. He is one of the best strikers Colombia has had and, while his time there was short, it had memorable moments. For example, his hat trick in a Newcastle vs. Barcelona Champions League game.
How I got tickets
You can read about my experience buying West Ham tickets in a previous post. I followed the same process this time and bought my tickets from West Ham’s ticketing site.
How I got to the game
You can read about my experience going to London Stadium from central London in a previous post. The main difference this time is that it was an early afternoon game, so I did not have to worry about missing the last train after the match.
Also, since I got to the stadium much earlier than last time, I had a chance to stop by the club store. I got a jersey while I was there and checked out the different clothing and souvenirs they had. The store was well organized and it was a great stop to make before entering the stadium.
The game
This match came with added pressure for West Ham for a few reasons. First, they had not yet won a home game in the Premier League season and found themselves in the low section of the standings. Second, they had only won one game so far under their new coach, Nuno Espirito Santo. Furthermore, they were playing against a team that had a streak of 3 victories, including a 3-0 victory versus Benfica in the Champions League.
The game did not start well for West Ham, as Newcastle scored after just 4 minutes, through a well placed shot from Jacob Murphy. However, West Ham fought back and had good chances to score, with many of those involving their star player Jarrod Bowen. Then, in the 35th minute Lucas Paqueta unleashed a powerful shot from outside the box to score the first goal for West Ham. Right before the end of the first half, there was a fast attack from West Ham that ended in an own goal scored by Sven Botman after a cross from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
The 2nd half was very entertaining and both teams had multiple opportunities to score. There was a West Ham goal in the 67th minute (scored by Freddie Potts) that was disallowed due to an offside. The 3rd West Ham goal finally arrived close to the 97th minute through a shot from Jarrod Bowen that was saved by Nick Pope, and then scored by Tomas Soucek. I was happy to see West Ham win the game and had a great time enjoying the action and taking in the experience.
Leaving the stadium
Unlike my previous experience at a West Ham game, I did not have to worry about catching the last train back to London. I took my time leaving the stadium, took more pictures, and eventually got back to Stratford station, where I caught an Elizabeth line train back to central London.
Conclusion
West Ham is the first English team I saw play in a Europa League match back in 2024 and I was really happy to have the chance to see one of their Premier League games. The match was very entertaining and it was great to see West Ham recover from a poor start to win the game. This time I had a chance to take in more of the game day experience because I got there early and I really enjoyed walking around the stadium and visiting the club store. I will definitely return to London Stadium for more West Ham matches every time I have a chance. If you have the opportunity to go to a West Ham game in the future, try to get there a few hours before the game so you can make the most of the experience.