Premier LeagueWest Ham United 0-1 Newcastle United
Saturday, 8th March 2025
by Chris Wilkerson
In an uninspiring contest, it was Newcastle United who took their chance and all three points to go with it, as Bruno Guimaraes's controversial second-half strike was enough to split the two sides and send the visitors home with a 1-0 victory.
West Ham remain in 16th-position, still 16 points clear of the bottom three and level on points with Everton, missing the chance to leapfrog The Toffees, as well as Manchester United and Tottenham.Unsurprisingly, the manager Graham Potter stuck with the team that had won back-to-back in their last two outings, although there was a return to the bench for Lucas Paqueta, with his hearing over alleged betting offences on the horizon.
With very few chances created in the game, it was no surprise to see a moment of confusing officiating split two evenly matched teams. The Hammers struggled to maintain much attacking momentum throughout, missing their best chance of the game inside the first minute.
A ball chipped down the left flank was taken down by Kudus, and the Ghanaian tool it on and then fired a cross into the box for Bowen. It beat his strike partner but met Soucek coming into the box. It bounced clumsily off the midfielder's thigh and fell to the edge of the six-yard-box. Soucek was first to it, but lacked composure and got under it, smashing it over the bar from close range and wasting a great chance to start with a bang.
It was a wild start to a game that quickly became cagey and balanced, two teams in firm shapes, battling through midfield and failing to really make an impression in the final third.
Only in the 18th-minute did something happen as the teams tried to keep possession and probe until a mistake could be pounced upon. The chance was difficult, and it was weakly scuffed wide by the busy Harvey Barnes, but was the start of a concerted spell of Newcastle prominence.
Barnes came close a couple minutes later, diverting a low Trippier shot at goal as it was driven from the edge of the box across goal. The shot was going wide, so Barnes instead flicked it to the near post and forced a very good save down low to Areola's left.
At the other end, Bowen could have done better on a breakaway, pinning Burn back as he dribbled at him before shifting it slightly inside and shooting with his left through the space he had created, only to curl it right at Nick Pope in the Newcastle goal.
Barnes soon forced Areola into another fine save, reacting first after a corner to the far post was headed back central by the towering Dan Burn. Barnes darted in front of his man and guided the header at goal. Still, the Frenchman was equal to it, pushing it wide.
Newcastle huffed and puffed with little to show for it, and the game was drifting to a 0-0 at half-time until what looked a very good chance for Mo Kudus.
The forward had come in behind the defence and was beating his man to the ball as he pushed into the box, but inexplicably tried to turn and spin to get the ball onto his favoured left foot, and wasted a good chance to shoot from a dangerous position on his weaker right.
To compound matters, he then blocked the shot from Bowen coming in to back him up, the ball cannoning off his legs to safety. Instead we went into the break at 0-0, with a touch of magic missing in both final thirds.
The Hammers started the half well, putting Newcastle under pressure for a good 15 minutes, but much like the visitors in the first half, they failed to make anything of their ascendancy.
It was Eddie Howe's side who threatened first, although it was all Kilman as a low cross from the right was headed to no-one, but the defender's clearance scuffed and looped instead towards his own goal. It forced Areola into a fantastic save as he reached back on the dive and clawed it away as it looked like it may be dropping beyond him.
That was a warning, and maybe it was the shock of it that had West Ham slightly off their game a minute later as Newcastle took the lead with just under 30 minutes to go.
All that being said, the key part in the goal is an officiating decision. After Barnes found the ball back at his feet after a low shot was blocked, the winger looked up as he stood at the edge of the left-side of the box.
He clipped a diagonal cross towards goal, and it dropped just over Kilman's head to be met by Guimaraes, the midfielder getting across his man to poke a toe out at the dropping ball and guide it into the back of the net from six yards out and gives his side a precious 1-0 lead.
The key moment, however, was that second where it flew over Max Kilman's head. It looked an easy one for him to clear, so why didn't he?
The answer was Alexander Isak, the striker putting two heads into Kilman's back as he went to jump and just giving him a very clear shove in the back. Clearly, he had stopped the defender from completing a clearance, quite blatantly pushing him without challenging for the ball, and pushing him right at the moment he was about to get up to head the ball.
A clear foul, so surely it would be enough for VAR to intervene and bring it back to 0-0? No, it was cleared, and Newcastle had got what was a winning goal when a blatant foul should have been called.
Potter reacted, sending Mavropanos, Soler and Paqueta on for Todibo, Soucek and Alvarez. Three minutes later, Ferguson was on for Cresswell a couple of minutes later.
But The Hammers have yet to win a game this season when going 1-0 down, and they failed to threaten an equaliser at all here.
There was some excitement as Bowen went down in the box as a ball was floated over his shoulder, but the referee waved the collision away. What was more interesting than the contact was the replays showing the ball had then deflected off the defender's outstretched arm, but it came as no surprise to see it ignored.
Should it really have been a penalty? Not many who watch the game will want those punished, but as we now live by a VAR standard, it very well could have been.
Suddenly, it was 20 minutes later and nothing had happened. The visitors were completely comfortable as the home side floundered, failing to create anything. Soler and Paqueta may have come on, the flair and creativity of the midfield, but neither offered anything meaningful. The Hammers did not use the ball quickly enough in attack to move Newcastle around, and could not find a head with their crosses into the box.
Ings was thrown on, a last gamble, for Ward-Prowse, but the match came to a quiet end, West Ham fading to a whimper, having conceded unjustly but failing to give anything for the fans to hold onto as they piled out, all waiting for the season to end as we come to the middle of March.
The last two victories have brought some hope, but there is plenty still missing in this side. For the next two months, it appears the manager will be trialling who survives the summer. This evening, only Areola really made any case.
Manager's Rating
Graham Potter 5/10: Whilst the decision to stick with the same starting 11 made sense, he took too long to make changes and couldn't find anything off the bench to make a difference anyway.
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Click to view all West Ham United vs Newcastle United match reports Click to view all match reports by Chris Wilkerson Like to share your thoughts on this article? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.Player Ratings
Alphonse AreolaTwo very good saves, and then beaten by a shot that would have been incredibly difficult to stop from such range.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Lacked an attacking presence, and his work down the wing has been important this year.
Ollie Scarles
Looked a little too polite, at times, and it is hard to tell whether he lacks the pace, size or confidence, or a combination of all three, to push around the outside of a man and beat him.
Max Kilman
In a better world, Kilman is either allowed to head clear or gets given the clear foul against him.
Jean-Clair Todibo
Quietly efficient, graceful as ever, but it is some concern that he still needs to come off at 60 minutes.
Aaron Cresswell
The defence was really quite comfortable and looked steady, only to be pierced for the goal. Too many standing still.
Tomas Soucek
After missing a glorious and easy chance early, Tommy was often bypassed in midfield and looked a little out of place.
James Ward-Prowse
Neat, tidy and busy, but he seems to be the only one in the middle capable of passing like a midfielder, and isn't the most creative or progressive of passers in those areas. The trio that started are far too functional, with not enough flair.
Edson Alvarez
Busy and worked hard, but his lack of guile and attacking influence is shown up with nobody else to take that burden.
Jarrod Bowen
Struggled to make an impact and wasted the odd good moment he had. Worked hard and defended from the front, but a failed audition in front of England manager Tuchel.
Mohammed Kudus
As a front two, they were left with too much to do. They were the only creators in the team, tasked with dropping deep to carry the ball, too, and yet found themselves leading attacks as a pair alone. Kudus should have got a shot off late in the first half, made himself somewhat a nuisance but couldn't make that moment of magic happen.
Substitutes
Lucas Paqueta(Alvarez 64') Could not get into the game and struggled to add the creativity that was missing.
Carlos Soler
(Soucek 64') Another nothing performance by a player who seems to coast through games.
Konstantinos Mavropanos
(Todibo 64') Mavropanos never does anything good after he's had time to think. One wild diagonal ball straight out of play was another sign.
Evan Ferguson
(Cresswell 68') Tried a low drive from long range when the pitch opened up in the final third, a poor one and wasting a moment where there was space and some movement ahead of him.
Danny Ings
(Ward-Prowse 83') The game was completely flat at this point and Ings added nothing to it.
Lukasz Fabianski
Did not play.
Emerson Palmieri
Did not play.
Guido Rodriguez
Did not play.
Luis Guilherme
Did not play.
Match Facts
West Ham United: Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Ollie Scarles, Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo, Aaron Cresswell, Tomas Soucek, James Ward-Prowse, Edson Alvarez, Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus.Goals: None.
Booked: None booked. .
Sent Off: None sent off. .
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schär, Burn, Livramento, Guimarães (Longstaff 88), Tonali, Joelinton, Murphy, Barnes (Willock 79), Isak (Wilson 79).
Subs not used: Dubravka, Krafth, Targett, Miley, Osula, Neave.
Goals: Guimaraes (64) .
Booked: Burn.
Sent off: None.
Referee: Michael Salisbury.
Attendance: 62,463.
Man of the Match: Alphonse Areola.