Newcastle United suffered a disappointing home defeat to West Ham United in the Premier League, ending their three-match winning run in all competitions.
Goals from Tomas Soucek — the first Newcastle had conceded from a corner in the league this season — and the right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka secured a 2-0 win for West Ham, whose manager Julen Lopetegui has been under pressure in recent weeks.
It was only the third time that Newcastle have lost in the league at St James’ Park in 2024, and counts as a big missed opportunity for Eddie Howe’s side, who sit 10th in the table after 12 games.
Chris Waugh analyses the key talking points from the defeat at St James’ Park…
Newcastle could have gone two points off Man City
The international break definitely did come at the wrong time for Newcastle. Three successive wins in all competitions heading into the two-week hiatus and that momentum has been well and truly checked.
Optimism and expectation are dangerous in these parts. There was so much belief among the home faithful heading into this game and, given the respective recent fortunes of both sides, that was understandable.
But Newcastle’s season so far has been a case of false starts, stuttering form and inconsistency. Howe keeps mentioning the word “consistency”, admitting that, while it is “boring”, it is what Newcastle desperately require.
Newcastle have scored just 13 goals in 12 Premier League matches and only five players have found the back of the net this season, the second-lowest in the top flight. They are not the free-flowing side in attack of the past two seasons, or at least they have only been so on frustratingly few occasions in 2024-25.
This defeat was costly, not only affecting their confidence levels, but also representing a missed opportunity. A win would have sent Newcastle sixth, only a point behind the Champions League positions and two shy of second-placed Manchester City.
Instead, Newcastle are ninth, only three points above West Ham, who are 14th. The table is ridiculously congested, but even so, until Newcastle start stringing a run of wins together, they will not be able to realise their European-qualification ambitions.
Burn was sorely missed in the Newcastle defence
Heading into this match, Newcastle had the second-meanest defence in the Premier League.
After conceding just four goals in their last seven matches across all competitions and registering four clean sheets during that time, Howe’s side were showing signs of rediscovering the excellent defensive form they displayed throughout the 2022-23 campaign, when they qualified for the Champions League.
While West Ham were restricted to a first-half expected goals (xG) return of just 0.21 and managed only two shots on target, Newcastle did show uncharacteristic sloppiness when defending a set piece to gift the visitors a 10th-minute lead.
Lloyd Kelly, deputising at left-sided centre-half with Dan Burn serving a one-match suspension after picking up five bookings, was marking Soucek. But a couple of feints and some decent movement from Soucek bamboozled Kelly, who lost his man, allowing the Czech Republic international to direct a free header into the right-hand corner of the net from an Emerson Palmieri corner.
It was the first time Newcastle had conceded from a corner this season, at the 70th attempt, highlighting Burn’s importance in such situations. He was a fixture of the team who qualified for the Champions League two seasons ago, albeit primarily from left-back, and his height and experience are influential.
There was so much optimism and expectation on Tyneside heading into this game and yet one lapse of concentration burst that positive momentum inside 10 minutes.
Wilson’s return a rare positive
For the first time this season, Callum Wilson was named in a matchday squad. And, for the first time since the final day of 2023-24 at Brentford, he made an appearance, too.
Wilson missed the first 14 matches in all competitions due to back and hamstring injuries, while he had featured in just six of a possible 37 across all competitions in 2024.
Across six appearances this calendar year, he had played for only 262 minutes due to a succession of fitness issues.
Having the 32-year-old back among the substitutes was a huge boost for Newcastle. Yet, by the time he was introduced in the 68th minute, the home side were already 2-0 down and lacking direction.
Wilson replaced Anthony Gordon and joined Alexander Isak up front, as Howe switched to a 4-4-2 formation, with Harvey Barnes on the left wing and Jacob Murphy on the right.
It did not have the desired effect. The gaps between the defence, midfield and front two were too large, and Newcastle were disjointed in their build-up play, at times even directionless. Wilson was rarely given a clear-cut chance, even if he did appeal for a penalty when Konstantinos Mavropanos appeared to put his arms around the striker in the box.
Wilson goes down in the penalty area under pressure from Mavropanos (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Wilson being fit again is a positive for Newcastle, even if it was not on the night.
What did Eddie Howe say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Newcastle?
Saturday, November 30: Crystal Palace (A), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET
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(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
