West Ham earned just their third win from their last 10 Premier League games after a convincing 2-0 win away to Newcastle on Monday.
Scorers: Soucek 10′, Wan-Bissaka 53′.
A previously impressive Newcastle side paid the price for failing to implement any attacking game plan in front of St. James’ Park home fans.
Despite being a mid-table clash, the action on the pitch was still entertaining—especially for West Ham supporters, whose team seems to be finding its identity.
The game got off to a flying start when Alexander Isak’s chip was ruled offside by VAR after roughly five minutes, but then the deadlock actually broke after 10.
The Hammers were one of the only teams in the Premier League yet to score from a corner this season. In contrast, Newcastle hadn’t conceded from one.
That was until Tomas Soucek was left unmarked in the middle of the box and thumped the ball home beyond Nick Pope with his side’s first effort on target.
Possession swung in favour of the hosts and usual stars Anthony Gordon, Joe Willock, Joelinton and Lewis Hall pushed for an equaliser. However, they all fell short, either lacking energy or precision.
Then, when an opportunity arrived against the run of play, West Ham struck again. Bruno Guimarães was stripped of the ball, and Lucas Paquetá sent his side surging forward.
Jarrod Bowen received the ball on the right wing and found a lurking Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who rolled home into the bottom left corner for his first club goal.
Newcastle had a penalty appeal in the final frame as Callum Wilson was restricted by Konstantinos Mavropanos in the air, but the shouts fell on deaf ears.
The Magpies notably failed to register a shot on target in the second half, while the Hammers arrived at the grounds with virtually perfect game plan execution.
Following the upset, Newcastle sit 10th and West Ham 14th in the Premier League table.
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