WEST Ham produced a clinical away performance to beat resurgent Newcastle 2-0 on Monday, easing the pressure on beleaguered manager Julen Lopetegui.
Tomas Soucek headed the visitors in front against the run of play at St James’ Park and Aaron Wan-Bissaka grabbed a rare goal in the second half to double the Hammers’ lead.
Newcastle were unable to capitalise on the chances they created, failing to build on the momentum created by recent wins against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
The result, only West Ham’s second win on the road this season, lifts them to 15 points, just three behind 10th-placed Newcastle, who missed out on the chance to move into the top six.
Relief
It will be a huge relief for Lopetegui, whose future has been a matter of mounting speculation just months after he replaced David Moyes.
“We are happy, above all because we achieved the three points, which is one important thing, but above all because I think that we played well,“ the Spaniard told Sky Sports.
“We are happy, but tomorrow we are working hard, looking forward to the next challenge (against Arsenal). To think about the long future doesn’t help, ever.”
The home side made the early running and in-form forward Alexander Isak had the ball in the net in the fifth minute after a delicate dink over Lukasz Fabianski, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
West Ham, expected to face a tough test on Newcastle’s home turf, showed little adventure in the opening stages.
But their first real foray up the pitch resulted in a corner and the unmarked Soucek powered home a header from Emerson Palmieri’s set-piece in the 10th minute.
Newcastle, on a three-match winning run in all competitions, enjoyed the bulk of the possession as a lively first half unfolded but West Ham were robust in defence and were a constant threat on the counter.
Anthony Gordon had a glorious chance to level after a poor clearance from Jean-Clair Todibo but fired straight at Fabianski.
Minutes later Isak chested down a superb cross from Bruno Guimaraes but steered narrowly wide on the stretch.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle were again on the front foot at the start of the second half but it was West Ham who doubled their lead through Wan-Bissaka.
The former Manchester United man scored his first goal for West Ham and just his third career goal after picking up Jarrod Bowen’s pass and firing across goalkeeper Nick Pope and into the net in the 53rd minute.
Howe brought on Jacob Murphy and Callum Wilson in a bid to turn the tide but Newcastle failed to build up a head of steam against their determined opponents, who saw out the game with relative ease.
“The first 60 minutes, albeit we’re losing the game 2-0, I think there was a lot of good play from us, we did open them up and had chances to score,“ said Howe.
“Unfortunately goals will always change the perception of everybody but up until that point I was pretty pleased. The last half an hour I didn’t like us at all. I thought we lost our way a little bit, became a bit too desperate to score.”
