West Ham United 5-1 Newcastle United
Premier League, London Stadium, Wednesday 5 April 2023, 8pm BST
West Ham United fell to a 5-1 defeat by Newcastle United on Wednesday evening.
The visitors struck twice in the opening 15 minutes at London Stadium with Callum Wilson and Joelinton on the scoresheet before Kurt Zouma halved the deficit with 40 minutes played.
Newcastle though had a third barely 30 seconds into the second half, when Wilson tapped home from close range.
Alexander Isak and Joelinton then added a fourth and a fifth to confirm West Ham’s first home defeat of 2023.
A positive start that saw the Irons hit the post after Jarrod Bowen’s cross deflected off Bruno Guimarães was quickly rendered meaningless. Newcastle, with their first two shots on target, struck twice in the opening 13 minutes.
The EFL Cup runners-up took the lead with six minutes played. Wilson was left to head home a dinked cross from Allan Saint-Maximin, before a second quickly followed.
Joelinton made a simple run through the Hammers’ defence, collected a pass from deep, and took the ball around Łukasz Fabiański to double Newcastle’s lead.
Needing two goals to extend an unbeaten run at home to seven matches, West Ham pressed to get back into the game. A well-struck free-kick by Paquetá was palmed wide of the post by Nick Pope, before Michail Antonio went even closer, although small margins still evaded those in Claret and Blue.
Paquetá recovered and stole the ball from Saint-Maximin to allow Declan Rice to drive at Newcastle. The No41 created space, with a swashbuckling run, before Antonio’s effort was bundled behind by Sven Botman.
West Ham were knocking on the door. And led by the east Londoners in attendance, who roared their team on, they eventually prised it open. Bowen saw his corner met by Zouma, who headed home his second Premier League goal of the season with 40 minutes played.
But any hope of a comeback was ended by a clinical showing from the visitors in the second half. Barely 30 seconds after the break, Fabiański rolled the ball to Nayef Aguerd, who had his pockets picked under pressure. A simple square ball from Jacob Murphy saw Wilson left free to tap-in his second of the night and the visitors’ third.
Vladimír Coufal, Flynn Downes, Maxwel Cornet and Danny Ings entered just after the hour as West Ham looked to try and get back into the fixture.
Cornet perhaps looked the most likely to create a chance with a few driving runs at the Newcastle defence. Paquetá also showed his quality on and off the ball, but the Hammers had Fabiański to thank for keeping Newcastle’s lead at two goals with two smart saves, although he eventually buckled to the number of attacks on his goal.
Newcastle avoided a nervy final ten minutes when Isak struck a fourth for the visitors. Gifted the ball by another defensive mix-up, the Sweden striker lobbed into an empty net from distance.
Joelinton then added a fifth in the 90th minute to confirm a miserable night in east London for Moyes’ men.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Kehrer (Coufal 63), Zouma, Aguerd, Emerson, Rice ©, Souček (Downes 63), Paquetá, Bowen, Antonio (Ings 63), Benrahma (Cornet 64)
Subs not used: Areola (GK), Cresswell, Fornals, Lanzini, Ogbonna
Goal: Zouma 40
Booked: Emerson, Downes
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier © (Manquillo 87), Botman, Schär, Burn (Targett 85), Longstaff, Guimarães, Joelinton, Murphy (Willock 65), Saint-Maximin (Gordon 65), Wilson (Isak 65)
Subs: Dúbravka (GK), Ritchie, Lascelles, Anderson
Goals: Wilson 6, 46 Joelinton 13, 90 Isak 82
Booked: Joelinton
Referee: Craig Pawson
Attendance: 62,470
