Newcastle United’s win streak comes to an end as West Ham tops the Toon 3-0 at St. James’ Park.
After an undefeated November, Newcastle United started December with a defeat. The Magpies were defeated 3-0 at St. James’ Park by West Ham, courtesy of a brace from Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and a late score from Felipe Anderson.
First Half
The first half was wide open as both teams traded possession and played intense football in the middle third of the pitch. Matt Ritchie came close to putting Newcastle up 1-0, but Lukasz Fabianski punched the ball away just in time to save the visitors. Three minutes later, however, horrendous marking in the penalty area allowed Javier Hernandez to score a bouncing volley to put West Ham up 1-0.
West Ham only had that one scoring opportunity, but they used it to perfection. After conceding a goal, Newcastle started coming back to life as they played with more offensive urgency. Ayoze Perez had a golden chance to score the equalizer, but his header went above the bar. Five minutes later it was Perez again who curled a chance in front of goal way wide.
The Magpies certainly deserved more in the first half, but the precision was lacking. In total, the Magpies created seven scoring opportunities compared to West Ham’s one attempt, but only one of Newcastle’s shots were on target.
Second Half
Chicharito continued to be a major player in this fixture. He had two major chances early in the second half and couldn’t convert, allowing Newcastle to hang within one goal. But then in the 63rd minute, he would add his second tally of the match. Running in behind Federico Fernandez, the all-time leading scorer for the Mexican national team beat Martin Dubravka on the break.
With Newcastle United pressing for a response, the match opened up for West Ham on the counter-attack. Felipe Anderson blazed into the open area on the left wing, but his effort was turned away by Dubravka.
Christian Atsu, Jonjo Shelvey, and Joselu came on as substitutes in the second half. Shelvey was able to find Rondon cutting behind the defense and the target man earned a free kick just outside the area. Unfortunately, Shelvey’s strike on the free kick sent the ball well over the bar.
In the final minute of stoppage time, Anderson would make another run down the left wing. But this time, he muscled Fabian Schar to the ground and fired a shot through Dubravka’s legs for the final tally of the night.
Newcastle United will look to bounce back midweek when they face Everton on the road.