WEST HAM ............................................................... 2 Toon’s hopes of relegation zone
NEWCASTLE United players were served a strong dose or reality after being outclassed by West Ham for the second time this season.
The Magpies recovered partially after a shocking first half, but despite managing to rally in the second period, they lacked sharpness in the final third and the Hammers picked up a comfortable win.
Defeat ended United’s unbeaten run of three matches and proved once again that there is no room for complacency in the Premier League.
For some reason, performance levels dropped for United as they failed to match the intensity of West Ham.
In front of 59,910, the blackand-whites lost their way as the Hammers got the front foot and stayed on it.
Things started badly for Rafa Benitez’s side as they switched off from a set-piece – one of Benitez’s pet hates.
West Ham earned a corner after six minutes but Newcastle were unable to clear their lines.
Robert Snodgrass whipped in the setpiece from the right before Declan Rice – playing in front of watching England coach Steve Holland – wriggled past Fabian Schar and flicked home a header to open the scores.
United tried to respond moments later as Ayoze Perez charged into the box but his cross was cut out by the home defence. The game was then delayed for five minutes when Aaron Cresswell clashed heads with Javier Manquillo but both players recovered to play on. The Spanish full-back continued with a bandaged head, having been chosen to start ahead of Deandre Yedlin. On 17 minutes, Sean Longstaff shot a fine pass out to the right for Perez but his cross could not find Rondon and Issa Diop headed the ball clear. Newcastle were struggling to cope with West Ham’s early intensity and found it difficult to get playmaker Miguel Almiron on the ball. West Ham skipper Mark Noble then tried to reduce Almiron’s impact even further with a heavy challenge which resulted in a yellow card.
Schär was in trouble again after 36 minutes when he blocked Felipe Anderson and picked up a yellow card, but thankfully for United, the resultant freekick from Manuel Lanzini cannoned off the wall.
Newcastle picked up another caution when Longstaff slid in for a crunching tackle on Snodgrass.
Moments later, the usually reliable Florian Lejeune then dived in to upend Javier Hernandez with
Chris Kavanagh pointing straight to the spot. Noble poised himself before step- ping up and placing the ball into the left-hand corner of the net to double West Ham’s lead on 42 minutes. There were five added minutes for the injury stoppages and United tried to rally, forcing a couple of corners. But their half was summed up as the ball fell for Schär after a corner but Angelo Ogbonna reacted sharply to beat him to the ball. The first half was well and truly owned by West Ham as they started
Nothing comes easy in the topflight and if United ever wanted an example of that they got it in Stratford