Hammers do Billy Bonds proud, double up Newcastle 2-0

On a day a long time coming, West Ham made the immortalizing of Billy Bonds on the London Stadium a day to remember with a dominant win over Newcastle United. With first-half goals from Declan Rice and Mark Noble, the Hammers cruised to the victory with superb passing and hard-nosed defending.

West Ham put forward a complete 90-minute effort to stop the streaking Magpies and end their consecutive away point record this season. Newcastle, who have been in terrific form since the injection of their January record transfer Miguel Almiron, ran into a staunch West Ham defense and two English centre-mids with a propensity to score.

Out of the blocks with some aggression and pace, the Hammers earned their only corner of the match and made quick work of the unsettled Newcastle defenders. Declan Rice found himself with space to pick the bottom corner of the opposition’s goal just seven minutes into the match. It was a stellar finish and a remarkable corner take from Snodgrass.

More first-half pressure would see the Hammers rewarded with another setpiece, this time just outside of the box to the right side. An Anderson looping cross would find Hernandez in space at the back post where he was brought down by Lejeune. Up stepped Mr. West Ham, Mark Noble, who sent a Julian Dicks style penalty into the top corner of the net to double the lead.

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Newcastle would turn on their offensive pressure in the second half but without reward. Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna were absolutely unbelievable in this match, making incredible block after incredible block. To say Soloman Rondon, Ayoze Perez, and Almiron were frustrated is an understatement.

Leave it to when Fabian Balbuena is nearing match fitness for this duo to start stringing together some awesome performances. Regardless, Ogbonna and Diop are buying Manuel Pellegrini and Balbuena time to rest the injury further and not rush him back before fully back to 100%.

Ryan Fredericks was a standout star today for West Ham. He didn’t make it on the scoresheet but when he rears up and is headed towards the goal – get off the tracks. He skinned Matt Ritchie all afternoon long and forced the Newcastle team to stack midfielders on his side for extra support.

It should also be mentioned that Arthur Masuaku returned to action in this match after a 34th-minute injury to Cresswell forced him from the game. I thought that Masuaku had his best performance of the season in this match. He looked hungry, responsible, and motivated to recover the ball and get on the front foot. It’s great to see.

As the final whistle blew thrice, two players got their just desserts in this game. Declan Rice was getting dragged in the mud by Newcastle supporters who got over excited by the play of homegrown talent Sean Longstaff. Rice slammed the door on the young English midfielder debate and was deservedly the Man of the Match. The other player is Lukasz Fabianski who earned a clean sheet. He wasn’t called upon much but was exceptional when he was. What a day.