Spirit of Toon gets Benitez bouncing
HAPPY Xmas (Wor Slump Is Over) as Newcastle United clambered out of the relegation zone with a first win in 10 attempts.
Goals from Henr iS ai vet, Mohamed Diame and Christian Atsu punished West Ham and sparked scenes of celebration among the travelling Geordies.
They still required a penalty save from Rob Elliot and they survived an aerial barrage at the end but secured three points to ease the strain on Ra fa Ben itez and preserved a record of never being in the Premier League’s bottom three at Christmas.
‘It’s a great day for our fans,’ said Benitez. ‘ It’s difficult when you have a bad run. We were analysing every single game and we deserved more, but you lose confidence and it was important to win.
‘We hit the post and the crossbar and their penalty was outside the box. These things can go against you when you’re at the bottom but you could see the way the team was fighting for every ball, working hard.
‘Now we have to keep winning to make sure we stay in the Premier League. It is about the belief we can win games and compete. That doesn’t mean we don’t need some players.’
Marko Arnautovic struck first for West Ham and Andre Ayew later pulled one back to make amend for his penalty miss, but manager David Moyes was left to digest defeat and consider the wisdom of resting his best players for the tame Carabao Cup quarter- final exit at Arsenal in midweek.
Three games without defeat and three clean sheets had generated momentum for the Hammers before the mini-revival ended in a 1- 0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
Moyes then saw his side gifted the lead against Newcastle when Saivet passed the ball straight to Arnautovic, who eased past Ciaran Clark and beat Elliot with a confident low drive.
For West Ham’s record signing, it was a third goal in four Premier League games, a run which started with the winner against Chelsea, his first goal since a £ 25million summer move from Stoke City.
Moyes punched the air. His team had the initiative but it was soon surrendered when Saivet curled a free-kick over the defensive wall and beyond the dive of goalkeeper Adrian.
It had been quite an opening 10 minutes for Newcastle’s Senegal midfielder, making only his fifth League appearance since signing for £5m from Bordeaux nearly two years ago.
Jonjo Shelvey’s suspension and injury problems for Mikel Merino and Isaac Hayden had given him the chance and despite his early mistake he performed well.
Newcastle were especially dangerous down their right flank where Matt Ritchie combined with full-back DeAndre Yedlin to good effect and stretched West Ham’s three-man defensive unit.
Dwight Gayle turned a low Yedlin cross against the crossbar and then Ritchie beat Adrian only to see his curling left-footer strike a post. Diame was unable to turn the rebound on target.
Without Manuel Lanzini, who was serving his ban for diving, West Ham were short of creative guile.
After Saivet’s gift, the best of their chances came from the aerial approach with Michail Antonio twice off target with headers in the first half.
Former West Ham midfielder Diame put Newcastle 2-1 up early in the second half with a firm sidefooter following a fine dribble and pass from Atsu, which featured a delicious nutmeg on Pablo Zabaleta.
Within two minutes, West Ham squandered the perfect chance to equalise from a disputed penalty, awarded by referee Lee Mason for a foul by Clark. Antonio was tripped as he burst forward and went sprawling into the penalty area but contact had been made just outside the box.
Mason initially signalled for a free- kick but after a glance at assistant Constantine Hatzidakis changed his mind and pointed to the spot.
‘When you’re at the bottom on a bad run, everything is against you,’ said Benitez, but any sense of injustice disappeared as Elliot pushed aside Ayew’s tame spot-kick.
‘Big moment,’ sighed Moyes, and the former Sunderland boss reacted by sending on Andy Carroll to jeers from the away end.
West Ham switched to a 4- 4- 2 shape and played direct but slipped further behind on the break when Joselu’s low cross was swept past Adrian by Atsu.
Carroll made more of an impression when leaping high at the backpost to nod a corner down for Ayew to find the net from close range.
But Newcastle resisted a strong West Ham finish to savour their first win in the Premier League since October.
‘It is important not to be in the bottom three at any time, not just at Christmas,’ said Benitez, having extended his personal record against Moyes to 10 games without defeat, winning eight of them.
‘We can enjoy it for a couple of days.’