West Ham Utd 2-3 Newcastle Utd

  • by Staff Writer
  • Saturday, 2nd November 2019

It may have been Halloween two days ago but West Ham certainly served up a horror show to remember at the LOS as they went down 3-2 at home to lowly Newcastle.

As if being beaten at home by Crystal Palace and held to a draw by Sheffield United in the last two home games wasn't bad enough, Manuel Pellegrini's side topped that with a ghastly performance against Steve Bruce's side.

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Until this afternoon, Newcastle had failed to score more than a single goal in any Premier League fixture this season - but could quite easily have ended this one with six or seven.

Three goals, another disallowed for offside, one off the woodwork and two last ditch one-on-one saves by Roberto meant that in truth, West Ham were lucky to escape having conceded just three, as their flimsy defence fell apart yet again.

The writing was on the wall as early as the 16th minute when Jonjo Shelvey's deep cross was nodded back towards goal and headed home by Ciaran Clark.

That lead was doubled five minutes later as Roberto came off his line to collect a ball he has no chance of getting to, allowing Federico Fernandez to head into an empty net as the Spaniard grasped at thin air.

Allan Saint-Maximin should have made it 3-0 just moments later when West Ham's defence disappeared, but Roberto redeemed himself somewhat by saving from the Newcastle man with his feet.

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The former Espanyol man was needed once again on 35 minutes when United's defence went missing allowing Miguel Almiron to break clear and force a save. Roberto could do nothing but watch however as Jonjo Shelvey crashed a shot against the crossbar seconds later.

Having walked off for the interval to a cacophony of boos, West Ham might've been expected to lift their game for the second period. But within 60 seconds Deandre Yedlin had the ball in the back of West Ham's net, only to see his effort ruled out for offside.

Still, it wasn't long before Steve Bruce's team added a third goal through Shelvey, who beat Roberto from around 25 yards with a free kick that the Spaniard should almost certainly have done better with.

West Ham finally sprang to life in the final 20 minutes of the game and scored their first of the afternoon through Fabian Balbuena 17 minutes from the end of normal time.

A Robert Snodgrass free kick was helped on by Sebastien Haller, who saw his effort saved by Martin Dubravka - who could only palm his save into the path of the Paraguayan international who was left with the simplest of touches to convert.

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And when Robert Snodgrass was rewarded for his never-say-die attitude with a second successive goal on the cusp of full time - a fine volley from Manuel Lanzini's set-up - it looked briefly as if West Ham may stage a lucky escape.

However the Hammers were unable to add a third and steal what would've been a lucky point and Pellegrini's side were left reflecting upon another dreadfully disappointing home performance and defeat.


West Ham Utd: Roberto, Zabaleta (Fredericks 72), Balbuena, Diop, Cresswell, Rice, Noble (Ajeti 46), Snodgrass, Yarmolenko (Lanzini 46), Anderson, Haller.

Subs not used: Martin, Ogbonna, Sanchez, Fornals.

Goals: Balbuena (73), Snodgrass (90).

Newcastle Utd: Dubravka, Yedlin, Fernandez, Lascelles, Clark, Willems (Dummett 87), Almiron, Shelvey, Hayden, Saint-Maximin (Atsu 77), Joelinton (Carroll 89).

Subs not used: Darlow, Krafth, M Longstaff, Gayle.

Goals: Clark (16), Fernandez (22), Shelvey (51).

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Tickets sold: 59,907

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