Benitez wants more signings to keep Newcastle out of drop zone
West Ham did their best to drown out the boos with Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, but there was no silencing Newcastle’s travelling army after Rafael Benitez’s team secured their first win in 10 league games to climb out of the relegation zone.
Newcastle have never spent Christmas Day in the bottom three of the Premier League and goals from Henri Saivet, former West Ham midfielder Mohamed Diame and Christian Atsu ensured that record will continue.
Benitez has spent the past couple of months warning that his players are not good enough and that he needs money to spend in January. But he shook them all enthusiastically by the hand after they hung on for this win.
“It’s difficult when you have a bad run,” said the Spaniard. “You lose confidence and it was important to win. It’s important not to be in the bottom three at any time, not just Christmas. With these three points, I hope we will have more confidence.” Benitez reiterated his desire for new signings, adding: “It doesn’t mean we don’t need players to make sure we can compete.”
A three-game unbeaten run had got West Ham looking up the table, but they are now watching nervously over their shoulders again. They are only a point ahead of third-from-bottom Bournemouth, to whom they square up on Boxing Day at the Vitality Stadium.
“It was a totally error-strewn game,” said West Ham manager David Moyes. “We should have capitalised. The first goal was always going to be important and when we got it we thought it would work in our favour.
“We made big mistakes for their first. There’s an offside for the second, but we didn’t perform well enough. And we missed a penalty-kick as well.”
Due to a shortage of available midfielders, Benitez handed Saivet his first Premier League start of the season, and the Senegal international was heavily involved during a breathless first 10 minutes. It was Saivet who passed straight into the path of Marko Arnautovic to gift West Ham the first goal. The Austrian went round Ciaran Clark and fired the ball past Rob Elliot.
West Ham, however, failed to build on their perfect start as Saivet made up for his mistake. Four minutes after the home side had gone ahead, the 27-yearold gave Adrian no chance with a freekick into the bottom corner of the net.
Benitez’s team could have been out of sight at half-time. DeAndre Yedlin and Matt Ritchie combined to present Dwight Gayle with a superb chance but the striker’s shot smacked the crossbar.
The woodwork saved West Ham again in the 34th minute. This time Gayle was the provider, as he held the ball up for Ritchie, whose curling effort had beaten Adrian but hit a post.
Michail Antonio twice headed offtarget, before Gayle shot over the bar.
Newcastle finally took one of their chances to go ahead in the 53rd min- ute. Atsu nutmegged Pablo Zabaleta before picking out Diame and the midfielder made no mistake from 10 yards.
Their joy almost turned to anguish as Lee Mason awarded West Ham a penalty. Mason appeared to be pointing for a free-kick after Clark had brought down Antonio, but he glanced at assistant Constantine Hatzidakis and gave a penalty. Replays showed the foul had taken place outside the area and justice was done, as Andre Ayew’s weak effort was saved. Benitez could not hide his fury at the penalty award, but his mood was improved as Newcastle scored again. Atsu tapped in Joselu’s pass after a swift counter-attack.
Moyes had sent on Andy Carroll before the visitors’ third goal and the former Newcastle striker helped West Ham back into the game. He rose to meet Aaron Cresswell’s corner and, although Elliot saved, Ayew reacted first to smash home. West Ham pumped ball after ball into the area in the hope of finding an equaliser, but Newcastle managed to hold on and the visiting supporters at least hung around long enough to sing along with Mariah.