West Ham 1-1 Newcastle United
by Paul Donovan 
at the London Stadium

WEST HAM managed to escape with a point after a lacklustre display against Newcastle United at the London stadium.

A resurgent Newcastle were on the front foot from the start, with Joe Linton getting in front of Declan Rice to force a save out of Lukasz Fabianski, after just two minutes.

The first effort of note from the home side saw Jarrod Bowen skim the bar, after being put in by a header from Ryan Fredericks.

The home side took the lead on the half hour, as Craig Dawson headed home a free kick swung in from the left by Aaron Cresswell.

West Ham though then needlessly gifted Newcastle an equaliser in injury time at the end of the first half.

A cross came over, which Rice headed back into the danger area, allowing Joe Willock to get a foot in to deflect the ball off the post and back over the line.

West Ham huffed and puffed in the second half but were unable to make the breakthrough.

Said Benrahma, who had shown some flashes of inspiration, was substituted on 70 minutes, exchanging some cross words with manager David Moyes as he departed the pitch.

Moyes, though, said the antagonism was to do with getting Benrahma off the pitch more quickly, with West Ham pressing for a winner.

Moyes conceded it was “not a good performance and good we took a point.”

“If we are going to hang in with the big boys, then we need to win games like this,” he said, and expressed he wants to see his team “get back on the front foot.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe felt a point was the least his team deserved and said: “We’re slightly disappointed it wasn’t more.” 

So, another poor performance from West Ham, whose Champions League prospects seem to be fading by the minute. Too many players off form, including the usually immaculate Rice in this game.

The Kurt Zouma affair still clearly casts a dark cloud over the club.