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Should there be a short span that summed up Newcastle United's curious season.

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

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

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

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

Sunday's trip to Brentford was not far from his mind as Newcastle aim 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 highly successful," the Newcastle manager said.

"Somehow we have not been winning the games away from home that we should have.

"Now we're sort of caught in that trap where it's becoming a topic of conversation and we're probably becoming more aware of it."

Home Strengths at 'Secure' St James'

Newcastle's squad were definitely reminded of it earlier this week.

They had nowhere for the team to hide as they were put through what defender Dan Burn described as a "very painful" analysis session in the days after the West Ham defeat.

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

"You have got to have some tough talks and the coach is quite good 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 play in a Champions League match under the lights at St James'.

In his programme notes, ahead of the game, skipper Bruno Guimaraes even wrote that the stadium was a "safe place for us where we know we play our best football."

And results certainly back those words up.

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% win rate at St James' this season. That statistic should be even better - last-minute goals proved costly against Arsenal and Liverpool – but these top contenders 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 matches on their travels 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 last-placed Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy's opener against West Ham was a rare example of this side being ruthless 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 fewer touches in the enemy area (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which highlights 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 away side have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That backline work starts with the forward pressure, but Newcastle have won possession back on eight fewer occasions (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 "be a bit more ugly", referencing how his side were "renowned 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, most importantly, the attitude".

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

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