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Premier League
West Ham United 3-1 Newcastle United 

Saturday, 1st November 2025
by Chris Wilkerson | Forum match thread

For the first time since February, West Ham United have won a match at home, beating Newcastle United 3-1 on a sunny winter's afternoon to kickstart the Nuno Espirito Santo era.

After conceding the opener inside five minutes, The Hammers were fantastic in a first half they controlled. They deserved their equaliser when it came, and deserved the luck that gave them the advantage right on the stroke of half time.




And it was all rounded off by a Tomas Soucek goal with the last meaningful kick of the game as the Hammers stood firm in defence and gave their manager a first win at the helm to move the side to 18th and only three points from those above the relegation trapdoor.

As important as the points was the hope that finally came, with this comfortably the best performance of the season, and some attacking verve finally combined with an energetic midfield and resolute defending that have been missing all season.

The manager made changes from the defeat at Leeds, and they were the ones the fans had hoped for. After excellent cameos at Elland Road, both Fernandes and Potts came in, replacing Irving and Soucek, whilst Wilson returned up front, and the experiment with inverted full backs was also abandoned.

It was interesting to note that the manager had also shifted Kilman and Todibo, swapping their sides in the centre back pairing, which did help both pass through the middle. The pair were excellent, arguably both playing the best they've ever shown in a West Ham shirt.

Newcastle have been poor away from home for some time, but coming up against the worst in front of their own fans meant, surely, something had to give. With Burn and Woltemade at around 6'6", and West Ham having conceded a fifth of all goals scored from corners this season in the league, there was one very clear route to goal highlighted.

The Toon had played in midweek, although with a much-changed side, whilst The Hammers came in having played nine days prior, and should have been fresher. They started well, but the cruelty of fate looked to be against them once more in just how Newcastle went ahead. There were 26 seconds between Bowen smacking the inside of the Newcastle post and Jacob Murphy giving the away team the lead.

Diouf looked like he was losing possession outside the West Ham box, but the impressive Potts was there to clean up, reading the play and laying off to Paqueta. He played up the line from the left back position, where Summerville and Diouf combined to release the Dutchman down the wing.

He drove forward, cutting in centrally before squaring to Paqueta on the edge of the box. Bowen took it off the Brazilian's toes, pushed towards the left and then smashed an effort across goal from just outside the area. Pope was beaten, but the post was not, Bowen looking on in anguish as his effort smashed the inside of the post and bounced away.

With The Hammers committed forward, Newcastle broke on the counter, and Guimaraes had acres of space in the middle of the park as he found Murphy on the right.

The winger drove at Diouf, and the defender backed away, leaving his opponent with space to turn in and then cut back out and onto his right foot. Diouf never got pressure on the ball, and Murphy took the opportunity given to him, smashing a low drive across the goal and into the far bottom corner, beating Areola and giving his side a lead less than 30 seconds after Bowen had come inches from doing the same himself.

With what little hope and confidence West Ham have had, this felt like a deflating dagger blow. In seasons of struggle, there are often moments that seem to define them, and this felt like the sliding doors moment that could be remembered for years to come if this team do succumb to relegation. No win at home this season, welcoming Champions League opponents, and losing out by such fine margins. West Ham had 85 minutes to make sure this dramatic minute didn't define the game, and haunt their season.




If the match had followed the pattern of the campaign so far, conceding early would have crushed the spirit of the home side and given Newcastle a chance to take control. But Howe's side are flat at the moment, disappointed to sit in 13th and without an away win yet this season. Things are tight in the Premier League, but the six points they sit behind the Champions League places already will put pressure on the Geordies and their manager.

They looked a team lacking both energy and confidence as they allowed West Ham, one of the most fragile teams in the league, to take control of possession and play their way into the game in a way that no other side have this season.

What it did was give these players a chance to get time on the ball and grow into the game. Individually, it is clear this is not a bad team overall, but the big gaps in important areas are letting them down. With Newcastle allowing them time on the ball, players like Potts, Fernandes and Paqueta settled and began to play.

It helped that Potts and Fernandes perfectly complemented Paqueta, allowing the mercurial talent freedom to play as he pleased. Potts was his minder, always nearby, always covering the Brazilian. He was also the one taking the ball off the defence, meaning Paqueta wasn't starting on the ball so deep, which not only allowed him to do more work further forward, but protected the defence from Paqueta's misjudgements that can cause problems for his own side.

Fernandes never stops working, and if Potts wasn't on for the pass, Fernandes was. Both of the young midfielders also have a bit of speed about them, to go with stamina and athleticism. This helped when Newcastle tried to spring forward on the break, with both showing the awareness and then the speed to make a difference and smother these moments.

Wilson found himself with a thankless task up front, but did it with the effort and determination demanded. His influence as an attacking force was minor, but he kept working the defenders and kept the centre backs honest. The presence was important. Wilson was where his teammates would expect to find a centre forward, and made runs to keep the defenders on their toes. He has lost the dynamism that made him a very good Premier League player, but the nous and workrate gave his side something to work with.

West Ham thought they had got themselves an opportunity to get back on level terms when Bowen appeared to be felled by Thiaw as he combined with Wan-Bissaka then danced into the box, and the referee pointed to the spot as the West Ham captain went down.

The contact with him was undeniable, but what the referee missed, and VAR didn't, was the slightest of touches on the ball by Thiaw, and just before he then collided with Bowen. It felt a little like the kind of challenge you might still see as a freekick, such was the follow through by the defender, but won't get given as a penalty in these VAR days. But the contact was there, and the decision fair.

This was another cruel turn of fate, and that is why the home side deserve such credit for keeping their heads up, not dropping and feeling sorry for themselves, but digging in instead.

The home side were markedly better to watch. The midfield could play and move at a speed unlike anything allowed by a combination of Soucek and Irving, and they also seemed to give the security for the full backs to move forward comfortably, meaning we saw much more of the Wan-Bissaka from last season.

However, the starkest contrast came in the defence. When Diouf was again too weak in defence, and Areola palmed behind a shot he should have held, a corner brought all the insecurities to the surface.




At least in the support, anyway. For once, it didn't come from the pitch, and whatever Nuno had done on the training ground this week worked. West Ham have conceded a fifth of all goals from corners in the Premier League this season, and Newcastle have some giants. Burn, Woltemade, Botman and Thiaw waited in the box, but never won a header. Potts even beat the giant Burn in the air when this corner was returned back towards the area after being cleared.

The young midfielder was then incredibly fortunate, a few minutes later, when the referee failed to play a clear advantage and saved his blushes. It was the only mistake Potts made, just losing control of a ball in the middle of the park and then playing a desperate pass short of Paqueta.

Newcastle burst forward to take advantage, but as Potts stumbled over Tonali, having left him on the floor when challenging to pass to Paqueta, and the referee blew for the foul as the away side were breaking at pace right at the West Ham defence.

But it was still the home side playing the football and looking good, controlling the first half in a way they have not done at all this season. It would all be for nowt if they couldn't find a breakthrough and parity.

Just past the half-hour mark, Paqueta forced a good save from Pope from a freekick. On the left side, five yards outside the box, Paqueta went low and to Pope's left when everyone expected him to go over the wall to the ?EUR~keeper's right. It was tipped around the post by the Newcastle number one, and a Potts corner a minute later saw Kilman test the goalkeeper with a header that was just too close to him.

With 72% possession over the last 10 minutes, West Ham needed to find something whilst in the ascendancy. What they got was a little magic mixed with a bit of luck.

After a cross from the left was punched out of the area by Pope, Fernandes watched it down and cushioned a header square to Paqueta. The midfielder looked up, and with space ahead of him, unleashed a drive that flew through the defence and arrowed towards Pope's bottom right corner.

The goalkeeper got there, but seemed to be fooled by the sudden dip that Paqueta's effort got close to goal, and instead of palming it away, the ball bounced off the bottom of his hand and nestled into the back of the net to give The Hammers a deserved equaliser, and the Brazilian a goal that his efforts had deserved so far, and indeed throughout.

The crowd had stayed with the side, clinging to the hope they had been given by a performance that was far beyond anything they had been given at home this season, and for many months.

They were not without their frailties, and Gordon could have restored his side's lead when he drifted in off the left wing, where he had been mostly anonymous, and was found by Murphy. He quickly adjusted and got the ball out of his feet, turning at goal from 25 yards out and hitting low to Areola's right. Thankfully for West Ham, the goalkeeper was a match for it, and turned it around the post.

Again, the corner was defended uncharacteristically well, and Newcastle looked a little out of ideas. It was as if they expected they must inevitably score from a set-piece, this is West Ham after all.




But as they looked to regather at half-time, ready to refresh and come back firing at a team that was bound to wilt, those plans were thrown into disarray. In the last minute of five added on, West Ham took the lead, and maybe, just maybe, Nuno's side were about to stop the rot, and not surpass a record that has stood for 94 years with the five losses at home in a row.

Fernandes drove forward from midfield and then curled a ball down the right channel for the advancing Wan-Bissaka. As he took it on and got level with the box, the right back tried to curl a pass behind the defence towards his teammate in the middle.

The ball never made it that far, but as Botman spun to try find the ball behind him, the big centre back threw out a leg to try intercept. Unfortunately for him, all he could do was poke it at goal, and at the big space that Nick Pope had left as he had moved across his line to follow where the original pass was going.

It was in the back of his net before the goalkeeper could react, and West Ham had turned the deficit around to lead at the break for the first time this season.

Eddie Howe reacted at the break with a triple change, and off went some big names. Gordon and Woltemade were replaced, as was Emil Krafth, as Newcastle shuffled the pack. On came Jacob Ramsey, himself a summer transfer target for West Ham, as well as Osula and Schar, as Newcastle went to a back four with four big centre backs, sparking thoughts of this West Ham defence dealing with all four as time wore thin and they tried to hold the lead.

The Hammers started the half well, but very quickly retreated. A Bowen break down the right saw his ball into the box volleyed high and wide by Summerville, and then Newcastle were allowed possession and dominance.

For all the pressure, and West Ham were forced back just as much as they chose to sit back, the travelling Toon army created next to nothing as the hour mark was hit. Wilson was replaced, with Soucek coming on, and the tone was well and truly set as the big midfielder dropped into the midfield and the Hammers played without a striker.

Being deep did leave West Ham vulnerable to balls into the box. The first Newcastle chance of the half came when a ball headed out only to the edge of the area was left to drop for Murphy, who spun quickly and fired an effort at goal, only to drag it wide.

But the home side did have moments of their own. Paqueta curled a fierce freekick at the near post from wide on the right, and it only evaded the touch of Soucek by inches, instead pounding into the strong arm of Pope. Any touch probably would have seen it past the goalkeeper. He was forced into a save from the corner as a clever short routine then found Kilman at the back post, with his header tipped over.

A minute later, it looked like the lead had been extended and young Freddie Potts, on his first Premier League start, had equalled the goal record of his father sitting on the bench as a coach. After some possession from the corner, Bowen was found on the left of the area, and he curled in a cross with his right boot towards Soucek in the box.

The ball wasn't won by the big Czech midfielder, but dropped down and loose into the box. Onto it was Potts, forcing his way in and smashing the ball into the roof of the net as Newcastle's defence floundered, only for the flag to go up as the midfielder celebrated. The replays backed his decision, but it could not have been closer, and as VAR showed Soucek's toe poking out to cause the offside, you wonder what the assistant referee had seen to call it.




There was good defending at the other end from Todibo, covering a gap left down the left of the defence as Barnes controlled a high ball. Moments later, it was that left side again as Summerville was sleeping, but when the ball came to Ramsey, he seemed unaware of the space he was in and played a quick pass across goal that found nobody.

That seemed to signal to the manager to make another change, and Walker-Peters replaced the flagging Summerville. Walker-Peters was looking for a rare win, the full back with victories in only nine of the last 84 appearances in the Premier League before this.

And West Ham were struggling to finish it off as they used all their energy to defend. Fernandes probably should have scored when he was found going into the box on a break, but the Portuguese midfielder never got his feet in order and eventually saw a weak shot blocked. Igor soon replaced him.

As the teams entered the final five minutes, Newcastle were always going to have at least one chance. It could have been Barnes when he received a layoff running into the box, but the winger seemed to have his mind set on crossing, maybe not realising the space he had as he clipped a ball to the far post harmlessly.

It was in the 90th-minute that that big chance came. Elanga, a late substitute, played a cute cross into the box and Osula rose highest to head at goal only eight yards out. The power was there, but not the direction, the young Danish striker heading straight at Areola.

All the way back in February against Leicester was the last time West Ham won at home, and you have to go as far as May 2024 to find a game where The Hammers had won from behind. You can see why the tension was suffocating anyone in claret and blue, whether they were on the pitch, in the stands, or even watching at home.

Bowen could have settled those nerves two minutes into stoppage time as Schar made an error heading back, finding Bowen instead of a teammate, but the captain blazed over from an angle as he got into the box.

It was then hearts in mouths a moment later, a long throw into the West Ham box was flicked on at the near post and bounced into the six-yard box, but just out of reach of the toe of Schar who could have poked home.

As the game stretched beyond the five minutes added on, Pope launched one last ball forward. It only found the head of Kilman, and Bowen was suddenly carrying forward and into the Newcastle half. Paqueta, who worked harder than anyone throughout, was somehow overlapping.

Bowen played it to his teammate, but then carried on his run to the box, and Paqueta rolled it through to him. Bowen should have scored, instead hitting the legs of Pope from close range, but it spiralled through them and into the middle of goal, where Soucek slid in to overpower the hand Pope got on the ball and bundle it home to guarantee his side their first three points at home for nine months, and to give his manager a first win at the fifth attempt.

The referee waited to allow it, checking Bowen had not run offside and that Soucek's challenge was fair, but both were cleared, and the last meaningful kick of the game was enough to confirm West Ham's victory. A successful sit-in followed, picked up by media at home and abroad, and happiness was found in a pocket of east London for the first time in too long.




Manager's Rating

Nuno Espirito Santo: 8/10 Got the big calls right, even if they were the decisions he should have made in the last two games. A simple system at the back, and a more energetic midfield were big and won the game, but he also gets credit for the clear improvements in defending the box, and corners, as well as the little tweak to Kilman and Todibo's positions that seemed to work.

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Player Ratings

Alphonse Areola
One good save from Gordon, with a couple saves that he pushed behind that he should have held, considering how weak we have been at corners.


Aaron Wan-Bissaka
His best performance of the season, freed by a midfield that could cover him, and some of his challenges higher up the pitch started promising attacks.


El Hadji Malick Diouf
He made quite a lot of tackles, six being double the number of anyone else, but also was found lacking on a few occasions, especially positionally in the second half as Newcastle made moves into his defensive channel.


Max Kilman
He was turned once far too easily by Joelinton, but was otherwise much improved and showed himself to have a physical presence, the presence he should have at his size.


Jean-Clair Todibo
His best showing for West Ham. Busy, winning headers and getting through a lot of work, with the most defensive contributions (10 clearances stand out). Passed through the middle well.


Freddie Potts
His full Premier League debut as he made the start, and he should be a fixture in that team from here. He was the platform for Paqueta's fantastic performance, shadowing him to keep a safety blanket there in case of emergency, and protecting the defence as he marshalled the space ahead of them. Showed he can make a difference in the air, and moves the ball quickly, playing simple but often forward passes.


Mateus Fernandes
Probably the lesser of the three in midfield, but still a very good performance and hopefully one that works as a springboard. He's incredibly busy, gets up and down the pitch at pace and spots danger well. He and Potts are a very good pair, and both complemented Paqueta well.


Lucas Paqueta
A fantastic showing from Paqueta, who loves playing against Guimaraes and Joelinton. He was everywhere, influencing the attack but also getting through significant defensive work. The pair with him suited him perfectly, meaning he could play his game his way without too much responsibility to do everything from front to back. When he's on it, he's as good as any modern West Ham player, it's just finding that consistency. Fernandes and Potts might be able to get that from him.


Crysencio Summerville
His pace means defences have to plan accordingly, and he is useful for starting attacks from deep and then running on to threaten in behind. It's still not quite clicking in dangerous areas, but his dribbling was important for the team regardless.


Jarrod Bowen
A good, if not great game from Bowen, who clearly remains the clearest threat that teams come to contain. If that creates space for others, all the better, as Bowen will still find moments even when he's the focus of the opponent's defence. Should have scored, but Soucek made it matter little.


Callum Wilson
A harsh score for a man who worked as hard as he could and made sure he was a presence and a nuisance for the defence to contend with. Lacks the special something, be it skill or pace, that gets him ahead of defenders and more threatening, but going through the hard work of a striker and keeping defenders honest is important.

Substitutes

Tomas Soucek
(Wilson 61') Looked a bit lost to where he should be playing, which was probably entirely due to the situation of needing him to defend but also get up and be the notional striker, but came up trumps with the goal. Nuisance factor probably means he has a future as a late sub up front.


Kyle Walker-Peters
(Summerville 78') Did not quite plug the gap but did make it more secure on the left. Energetic cameo.


Igor Julio
(Fernandes 85') Extended the defensive quota for the fin al few minutes.


Mads Hermansen
Did not play.


Ezra Mayers
Did not play.


Guido Rodríguez
Did not play.


Soungoutou Magassa
Did not play.


Andy Irving
Did not play.


Luis Guilherme
Did not play.

Match Facts

West Ham United: Alphonse Areola, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf, Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo, Freddie Potts, Mateus Fernandes, Lucas Paqueta, Crysencio Summerville, Jarrod Bowen, Callum Wilson.

Goals: Lucas Paqueta 35 Sven Botman (OG) 45 Tomas Soucek 90              .

Booked: Lucas Paqueta 0          .

Sent Off: None sent off.     .

Newcastle United: Pope, Krafth (Schar 46), Thiaw, Botman (Barnes 65), Burn, Guimaraes (c), Tonali, Joelinton, Murphy (Elanga 77), Gordon (Ramsey 46), Woltemade (Osula 46).

Subs not used: Ramsdale, Hall, Willock, Miley.

Goals: Murphy (4).

Booked: Guimaraes, Murphy.

Sent off: None.

Referee: Rob Jones.

Attendance: 62,441.

Man of the Match: Lucas Paqueta.