Tomas Soucek and Aaron Wan-Bissaka scored as West Ham defeated Newcastle United 2-0 at St James' Park on Monday to ease the pressure on boss Julen Lopetegui. (More Football News)
Newcastle entered the game on a three-match winning run, including back-to-back victories in the Premier League, but it was a previously out-of-form West Ham side who came out on top.
Soucek profited from some poor Newcastle defending to head West Ham into a 10th-minute lead, coming after Alexander Isak had a goal rightly disallowed for offside.
Isak missed a good chance and Anthony Gordon was denied by Lukasz Fabianski, before Wan-Bissaka fired in his first goal for the Hammers eight minutes into the second half after being played in by Jarrod Bowen.
Fabianski had next to nothing to do from that point on as West Ham saw out a win that keeps them 14th but now within three points of Newcastle, who are 10th and still four points adrift of the top four.
Data Debrief: Happy Mondays for West Ham
West Ham have now won eight of their past nine Premier League games on a Monday, with the only exception in that run being a 3-1 loss at Arsenal on Boxing Day 2022.
Soucek's goal was his fourth against Newcastle in the Premier League – against no side does he have more – with each of those giving West Ham the lead.
Three of Wan-Bissaka's four goals in the competition have come against today's opponents, meanwhile, this latest one being assisted by Bowen.
The England forward has now been involved in 79 Premier League goals for West Ham – one more than Paolo Di Canio, and now behind only Michail Antonio (101) and Mark Noble (82).
