Newcastle 0-2 West Ham - Match Report: Hammered home

Yesterday at 05:00 AM

The chance to enter the top 6 was there but ultimately wasted.

Newcastle United's resurgence was brought to a halt as they fell 2-0 to West Ham United at St. James' Park, ending a three-match winning streak across all competitions and missing on clinching a top-6 position in the Premier League table to close November.

Goals from Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka sealed the victory for Julen Lopetegui's side, leaving Eddie Howe frustrated by what he termed "a missed opportunity" to close the gap on the Champions League spots.

The defeat sees Newcastle drop to 10th in the standings instead of going up to sixth place and an arm's length of Man City of all teams. Just imagine!

The game started reasonably well for Newcastle, who looked nice in the early minutes even having a potential Alexander Isak goal ruled out for offside.

However, the breakthrough came for the visitors shortly after in the 10th minute. Tomas Soucek exploited a lapse in concentration by Lloyd Kelly, on the pitch making up the suspended Dan Burn and his absence. It was the first goal Newcastle had conceded from a set piece—a corner in this case—in the league this season.

Newcastle struggled to find their rhythm, with key players such as Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon having off days, to say the least.

The second half saw Newcastle increase their urgency to no avail, most notably after getting Harvey Barnes and Callum Wilson (yes, you read that right) on the pitch off the pine with the latter making his first appearance of the season after a long injury layoff.

However, the visitors were the ones delivering the decisive blow in the 70th minute, with Lucas Paqueta winning possession from fellow Brazilian Guimaraes and setting up Jarrod Bowen, who assisted Wan-Bissaka's finish. In a very FM-like development, if you have played the game, it was only the third goal of his career. Sheesh...

"We'll rue this as a missed opportunity," Howe said after the game. "We knew the importance of this game, and it's frustrating to have let it slip."

The Magpies will look to regroup as they prepare for their next fixture against Crystal Palace on Saturday when they will have another chance to move up the table... but not one to crash the top six anymore.