Two goals in two for Dawson, rare Rice mistake, Moyes vs Benrahma incident & more- Talking points from West Ham 1-1 Newcastle

West Ham fans endured another frustrating weekend as they drew 1-1 with relegation threatened Newcastle in GW26. Here are our talking points from the game at the London Stadium as the Hammers ceded ground to their rivals in the race for fourth place.

Two goals in two for Dawson: The central defender hadn’t scored a goal in the league all season before his stoppage time equaliser against Leicester. He now has 2 in as many games following this opener against the Magpies.

Given that set pieces appear to be West Ham’s most likely source of goals currently [Read more…]

Recent West Ham vs Newcastle H2H- At least two goals in every league game since 2015

West Ham take on Newcastle in the first Premier League game of the weekend, and here’s an interesting little stat ahead of this clash at the London Stadium.

The last 12 league meetings between the Hammers and the Magpies have ALL produced at least two or more goals, and one has to go back to 2014 for the last time there were fewer than two goals in this fixture. [Read more…]

Disappointing loss, Wilson continues to torment & More- Talking Points from West Ham 0-2 Newcastle

West Ham’s 2020/21 league season started on a disappointing note as they went down 2-0 at home to Newcastle United. Jeff Hendrick and Callum Wilson were on target for Steve Bruce’s Magpies at the London Stadium. Here are our talking points from the game.

Is the Grady Diangana transfer still affecting the players?

On paper, this was a very winnable game, and given West Ham’s tough starting fixture list, it was a game David Moyes would’ve targetted for at least a point, if not all three.

The players weren’t clearly happy with the situation regarding Grady Diangana’s transfer and one wonders if it’s affected their morale. With the next set of fixtures reading Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester, Spurs, Man City and Liverpool, there is every chance the Hammers might only get their first points of the season in November!

Hammers go in the same attacking formation as they did at the end of 19/20 season

Moyes made only one change from the side that had faced Aston Villa on the final day of the 2019/20 season, with Aaron Cresswell coming in at left back for Ben Johnson. That meant a repeat of the 4-2-3-1 formation with skipper Mark Noble again effectively playing as a 10, Pablo Fornals on the left wing, Antonio alone upfront, and the troika of Anderson, Sebastien Haller and Manuel Lanzini on the bench.

Lanzini didn’t even make it off the bench while Anderson, the club’s second most expensive player, only had a minute or so of action. [Read more…]

Soucek & Antonio again on the scoresheet, Wait for two consecutive league wins continues & more- Talking Points from Newcastle 2-2 West Ham

West Ham took the lead twice, but had to settle for a point at St.James’ Park against Newcastle. The Hammers probably edged Steve Bruce’s side on the day and looked good for all three points, a draw wasn’t a terrible result either, especially given Newcastle’s form at home and West Ham’s abysmal run on the road.

Here are our talking points from the game.

Goals again for Tomas Soucek and Michail Antonio: They got on the scoresheet in the 3-2 win over Chelsea, and Tomas Soucek and Michail Antonio were again on target for the Hammers here. Antonio was virtually gifted his by Jamaal Lascelles, while Soucek finished well from close range after Declan Rice’s initial effort had rebounded off the bar.

The Hammers have struggled for consistency in the goal scoring department, and it’s rare to see players find the back of the net in consecutive league games.

Wait for two consecutive league wins continues: While goals have been tough to come by, West Ham have also never won two consecutive league games in David Moyes’ second stint. For a while, this looked like they might break the duck, but it eventually ended up being another case of points lost from winning positions (apparently West Ham have squandered 24 such points this season according to the commentators!)

Fornals error proves costly: It was an error from Jamaal Lascelles that gifted West Ham their opener, but it was a similar gift from Pablo Fornals that lead to the Newcastle equaliser. The Spaniard made a mess of the offside trap as he stood in the background- a costly, costly error. Fornals did some good things in this game- he had a crucial hand in the opener, but this was a disappointing mistake. [Read more…]

Media Player Ratings- How did West Ham’s players fare against Newcastle?

West Ham started the month of March on a winning note as they beat Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle 2-0 at the London Stadium. The victory, the Hammers’ seventh on in the league at home this season, saw them leapfrog Everton in the table.

It was only the fifth time this season that Manuel Pellegrini’s side had kept a clean sheet in the Premier League- the previous four being at home to Chelsea and Arsenal, and away at Newcastle and Fulham.

There were five changes to the squad that had lost to Man City- Aaron Cresswell coming in at left back, Mark Noble, Robert Snodgrass and Manuel Lanzini in midfield and Javier Hernandez taking Andy Carroll’s place upfront.

As it’s been in recent weeks, Pedro Obiang and Marko Arnautovic were both introduced from the bench. Cresswell’s first half injury forced Pellegrini to make a substitution earlier than he would’ve normally liked, and also meant that Manuel Lanzini played the entire 90 minutes in his first start for the club in nearly 10 months. [Read more…]