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28 min: Bowen, Antonio and Rice shuttle the ball right to left at speed, finding Benrahma in space to the left of the D. Benrahma takes a touch back infield and looks for the top right, but gets his curler all wrong. Goal kick. Nice move, however.
26 min: Saint-Maximin slips Longstaff into the box from the left. Longstaff pulls back in the hope of teeing up Joelinton on the edge of the area, but Rice telescopes a leg to intercept and clear.
24 min: Willock swings in a free kick from the left. Burn gets up on the edge of the box to flick on. Schar sticks out a leg and flicks over Fabianski, the keeper dilly-dallying. West Ham are fortunate that the ball floats wide of the left-hand post.
22 min: Trippier slips, then recovers, then gets clipped from behind by Emerson, who is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. Clumsy rather than malicious.
21 min: Schar tries to release Wilson down the middle again, but Ogbonna closes that route to goal.
19 min: Botman launches long down the left. Wilson tries to take it down and round Ogbonna, but the defender intercepts and clears. Wilson claims Ogbonna handled in doing so, but replays show that claim to be neither clear nor obvious.
17 min: Botman, having been doused in the miracle water from the magic sponge, is back up and running. All fixed.
15 min: West Ham are knocking it around confidently enough now, having recovered from their cold start. Paqueta takes a belt from distance that smacks Botman flush in the mush. On comes the trainer.
13 min: Schar plays a lazy ball out from the back, gifting Antonio an easy interception. He takes a whack from the edge of the D only for Botman to block bravely. Botman got his central defensive partner out of a world of trouble there.
11 min: Willock curls in from the right. Wilson prepares to head home from six yards only to be denied by Ogbonna’s late flick clear. Newcastle look dangerous every time they attack.
9 min: Another determined run by Antonio down the left. He makes it into the box this time, holding off Botman easily enough, but his cross is too long for Paqueta, who tries to keep the move going on the other flank, only to be eventually dispossessed by Willock.
7 min: Fabianski is nearly closed down by the irrepressible Wilson. He hoicks clear just in time. West Ham are looking ragged during these early exchanges.
5 min: Antonio tries to fashion a response with a run down the left but upon cutting inside soon runs out of room and loses possession. On the touchline, David Moyes wears a look that’s 50 percent disbelief, 50 percent incandescent rage. You can picture it, can’t you?
4 min: Well that was eventful.
GOAL! Newcastle United 1-0 West Ham United (Wilson 3)
Fabianski takes the goal kick. Schar, Joelinton and Longstaff combine to win the ball in the centre circle. Longstaff rolls a pass down the middle to release Wilson, easy as that. Wilson romps clear, opens his body, and slots into the left-hand side of the net!
NO GOAL! Newcastle United 0-0 West Ham United
Almiron couldn’t keep the ball in play. It had gone out for a goal kick. But no matter, because just after the restart …
GOAL! Newcastle United 1-0 West Ham United (Willock 37 sec)
Willock takes a knock to the leg. Is he injured? Nope! Almiron chases a Trippier pass down the right. He tugs it back from the byline. Willock takes a touch and slams the ball across Fabianksi and into the top left! What a start!
A blast of Local Hero, then Newcastle get the ball rolling. And then …
The teams are out! Newcastle wear their black and white stripes, West Ham sport claret and blue. A party atmosphere at St James’ Park befitting a club feeling good about itself right now. Only one slight downer: Manchester United have leapfrogged the Toon in the table after their 2-1 win over Crystal Palace this afternoon. Newcastle can reclaim third place with a win tonight. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
David Moyes talks to Sky. “We’ve picked up some really good results in the last week or two … we’re in good shape, hopefully we can show it, we’re up against a team in good form so we’ll need to play well … it’ll be a tough game for us.”
Eddie Howe speaks to Sky. “We are naturally positive but focused because we know the Premier League is so difficult … the cup week we had were totally different games, we enjoyed the experience, we’re through to the final, but that has to take a back seat … we have to play well against a competitive team … [Allan Saint-Maximin] has unique abilities, he’s the best dribbler of a football I’ve seen and worked with … we hope to feed him in the right areas … I’d love to see [Anthony Gordon] on the pitch but I’ll have to take into account how the game’s going.”
Newcastle make one change to the starting XI named for the 2-1 League Cup win over Southampton. Bruno Guimaraes is suspended, so Allan Saint-Maximin takes his place. Anthony Gordon is on the bench, ready to make his debut, while Alexander Isak misses out altogether having been concussed against the Saints.
West Ham also make one change, from the XI sent out to beat Everton 2-0 a fortnight ago. Kurt Zouma is injured so Thilo Kehrer takes his place.
The teams
Newcastle United: Pope, Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn, Longstaff, Saint-Maximin, Willock, Almiron, Wilson, Joelinton.
Subs: Gordon, Dubravka, Dummett, Lascelles, Ritchie, Lewis, Fraser, Murphy, Anderson.
West Ham United: Fabianski, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Aguerd, Coufal, Paqueta, Rice, Emerson, Bowen, Benrahma, Antonio.
Subs: Johnson, Cresswell, Fornals, Lanzini, Downes, Ings, Soucek, Hegyi, Anang.
Preamble
West Ham United won this fixture 4-2 last season. Few fancy them to repeat the trick this time round. Newcastle United are flying, ahead of schedule in third place and high on life after reaching their first cup final for 24 years. Nick Pope hasn’t let in a Premier League goal for six matches; the team are unbeaten in the league in 15, and haven’t lost at home since April. Ask the 8-ball: all signs point to yes why aye.
Nothing’s ever that cut and dried, though, is it? So here’s some hope for West Ham: Newcastle have only scored one goal in their last four league games, and they struggle when Bruno Guimaraes, suspended for this game, isn’t playing, failing to win any of the three previous matches in which the brilliant Brazilian has been absent. The Hammers are also coming off the back of a morale-boosting win over Everton that gave them some much-needed breathing space at the bottom of the table. The Toon go into this as hot favourites, but as they pour forward, David Moyes will doubtless have a rope-a-dope plan. Set up nicely, then. Kick off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on!
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