Revitalised West Ham best Newcastle 3-1

West Ham battled all the way to secure a vital three points against Newcastle United at the London Stadium Often, it wasn't pretty but a backs to the wall effort saw West Ham fight all the way. Something the fans have been waiting to see all season. Things didn't start well. A quick turn of events saw West Ham go behind in the fourth minute. The home side had just seen Jarrod Bowen hit the post but play switched immediately to the other end, where Jacob Murphy found space to slot home from the right side of the penalty area. Then, it looked like another one of those afternoons, as VAR denied a penalty shout for Bowen, brought down by Malik Thiaw. A Lucas Paqueta free kick was then pushed wide by Nick Hope. The resulting corner, saw the keeper in action again, pushing over a Max Kilman header. Eventually the pressure did tell, as Pope punched out for Mateus Fernandez to lay the ball off for Paqueta to rifle home from 20 yards out. Newcastle, then, turned up the heat, with Anthony Gordon and Joe Linton forcing saves out of Alphonse Areola. Deep into first half injury time, though, Aaron Wan Bissaka on the overlap saw his cross diverted into his own net by Sven Botman. After the break, Hope was in action again, pushing a Kilman header over the bar. The impressive Freddie Potts then had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for offside. At the death, West Ham made sure, when a Bowen breakaway saw the resulting shot squirm under Hope for incoming Tomas Soucek to force home. This time VAR confirmed the goal. West Ham head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was pleased with how the team reacted to going one down. He explained how in training they had focused on individual improvement."The players will now be more confident and happy to return to the London Stadium next week," said Espirito Santo, who paid tribute to the fans for how they got behind the team. "We want to transform the London Stadium into a difficult place for our opponents to come to. We can't thank the fans enough," said Espirito Santo. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was disappointed with "a poor performance. However, he felt his team lacked "physicality and energy." He felt, after taking an early lead Newcastle should have grabbed hold of the game but didn't. "We were better in the second half but not particularly great,"said a subdued Howe.