Newcastle thrash West Ham 3-1, pushing Hammers closer to relegation

A tactical decision by West Ham manager Nuno Espírito Santo may haunt him for many nights after his side’s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United. He started with a back three on Tyneside, a choice that backfired spectacularly.

Instead of subduing Eddie Howe’s players, the formation highlighted why Nick Woltemade is Newcastle’s record signing. By the 26th minute, Nuno abandoned the configuration for a more effective back four, but by then West Ham were 2-0 down and one foot in the Championship.

Should Tottenham secure a point at Chelsea on Tuesday, West Ham’s vastly inferior goal difference will almost certainly force them into relegation, a fate they face reluctantly.

On an evening when Howe reassured Newcastle supporters who question his suitability to remain in charge next season, the only surprise was that cheers from Tottenham High Road were not audible by the Tyne. They were likely drowned out by chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” from West Ham fans.

West Ham’s only hope now is that Tottenham, currently two points ahead in 17th, lose their final two games while West Ham win their concluding match at home to Leeds on Sunday. Otherwise, it will be goodbye to the Premier League.

More immediately, the moment for Newcastle fans to bid Kieran Trippier farewell had arrived. It is no exaggeration to say the former England full-back ranks as one of the most important signings in Newcastle’s modern history. A giant banner in the East Stand declared: “Forever a legend. Thank you for the memories.”

While Trippier will be a free agent next month, the future of Woltemade remains uncertain. Yet if Howe still appears unconvinced by the Germany forward, he started him in his preferred No 10 role behind Will Osula, and Woltemade repaid that faith by scoring the first goal.

When Harvey Barnes intercepted a slapdash delivery from Mads Hermansen intended for Jean-Clair Todibo and clipped a cross from the right, Woltemade was perfectly placed to cushion an eight-yard volley beyond the visiting goalkeeper.

As Woltemade marked his first Premier League goal since December with a celebratory knee slide, a quietly incandescent Nuno scowled at the turf and presumably wondered why Mateus Fernandes had not closed Barnes down more effectively.

The West Ham manager’s mood deteriorated further when Osula silenced the chants of “Forever blowing bubbles” from the away end with an accomplished sidefoot finish. It was his fifth goal in the past eight league games, not bad for a player who began the season as Howe’s fourth-choice striker.

Significantly, the goal arrived at the end of a multi-player one-touch passing move that has been conspicuous by its absence from Newcastle’s play this season. Here, Trippier, Barnes, Bruno Guimarães and Jacob Ramsey combined to destabilize West Ham’s defense, reveling in emphasizing that Nuno’s decision to deploy a defensive trio had backfired.

Howe has long resisted deviating from his beloved 4-3-3 system, but the shift to 4-2-3-1 seemed to bring the best out in Woltemade, Barnes and Ramsey. Nuno, though, had seen enough of that trio’s slick maneuvers between the lines.

Rather than dig his team deeper into a hole, the Portuguese responded by switching to 4-4-2, replacing Todibo with Taty Castellanos, who joined Callum Wilson up front. A Castellanos volley forced Nick Pope into his first save of the evening.

Wilson spent five years at St James’ Park before joining West Ham last summer. Howe admits that exit involved “a lot of pain” for both parties. But much as he professes to still love a striker he also coached at Bournemouth, Newcastle’s manager must have been delighted to see Sven Botman keep Wilson on a particularly tight leash.

The visitors improved a bit, but when a highly inviting chance finally came his way, Wilson could not quite connect with Crysencio Summerville’s fine cross.

Tomas Soucek, meanwhile, was arguably fortunate to receive a yellow card rather than a red after an altercation with Guimarães that featured the West Ham midfielder kicking Newcastle’s captain as he lay on the ground.

Newcastle delighted in exacting revenge when Osula played a deft counterattacking one-two with Joe Willock that concluded with the Denmark Under-21 international scoring his second goal of the game.

By now, Nuno’s attack-minded substitutions meant West Ham had five forwards on the pitch, and chaos reigned.

A rare moment of coherence arrived when Castellanos spotted Pope off his line after Botman misjudged Hermansen’s kick, and the striker hooked a gloriously acrobatic volley over the goalkeeper from almost 25 yards.

It was a wonderful goal that came too late on a day when, collectively, West Ham offered far too little.