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West Ham Pegged Back By Jonjo Shelvey’s Clinical Finish

By Henry Tomlinson

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - JULY 05: Jonjo Shelvey of Newcastle United scores his team's second goal past Lukasz Fabianski of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St. James Park on July 05, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - JULY 05: Jonjo Shelvey of Newcastle United scores his team's second goal past Lukasz Fabianski of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St. James Park on July 05, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /
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West Ham United followed up their win over Chelsea, with a competitive draw away against Newcastle in a game were the Hammers led on two occasions.

David Moyes named an unchanged West Ham side from the one that beat Chelsea  3-2 on Wednesday night. Mark Noble and Arthur Masuaku did return for selection and made the bench. Moyes was without Sebastian Haller and Felipe Anderson who have failed to recover from their retrospective knocks.

Moyes would have been wanting West Ham to follow-up their performance against Chelsea with another win. The Hammers had the chance to go six points clear of the relegation zone.

West Ham got off to the perfect start and took an early lead. Pablo Fornals surged through the centre of the pitch and played a through ball to Jarrod Bowen on the right-wing. The January signing played in a low cross that found Michail Antonio in acres of space.

The 30-year-old made no mistake and hammered his shot into the Newcastle goal. The goal was Antonio’s second in as many games and Bowen’s third assist in two games.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – JULY 05: Michail Antonio scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St. James Park on July 05, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – JULY 05: Michail Antonio scores his team’s first goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St. James Park on July 05, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

After a Newcastle reaction, West Ham almost doubled their lead in the 10th minute. Captain Declan Rice crossed the ball to the back post-Antonio. The strikers unorthodox shot connected poorly and didn’t have enough power to beat Martin Dubravka.

The Hammers were left to rue that missed chance. Newcastle scored following some good passing from Allan Saint-Maximin to Emil Krafth.  The Swedish full-backs cross was pinpoint to Miguel Almiron. The Paraguayan was able to stab the cross passed Lukasz Fabianski to level the score.

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The equaliser seemed to put a spring into the Newcastle stride and they looked dangerous every time they went forward. The goal had the opposite effect on West Ham who seemed to lose a lot of confidence and couldn’t keep possession for any meaningful amount of time.

West Ham started to grow back into the game and almost put themselves back into the lead. West Ham pinned the Magpies into their corner and after a loose clearance, Aaron Cresswell found some space and fired a shot. Bowen managed to deflect it goalwards and it was only kept out by some brilliant goal-keeping.

The second half started with both teams looking to retake the lead. Newcastle had an effort from Almiron go wide of Fabianski’s post. The Hammers were also putting on some good pressure, but just lacked that final bit of quality.

Mark Noble made his return after missing the Chelsea game through injury. Noble replaced Manuel Lanzini and reclaimed his captain’s armband from the ever-impressive Rice.

West Ham took back the lead on the 65th minute. Rice headed the ball against the bar from a Bowen corner, the ball then rebounded to Tomas Soucek. The Czech midfielder brilliantly volleyed the ball into the Newcastle goal for his second goal in as many matches.

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – JULY 05: Tomas Soucek of West Ham United celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St. James Park on July 05, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – JULY 05: Tomas Soucek of West Ham United celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St. James Park on July 05, 2020 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Football Stadiums around Europe remain empty due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

Joy quickly turned into frustration however, the lead only lasted a minute. Newcastle went up the other and after some good interplay, Jonjo Shelvey finished clinically passed Fabianski. Calls for offside were quickly squashed after the realisation Fornals was far too deep.

Moyes reacted to the Magpies goal and made an attacking change in order to push for another goal. The matchwinner from Wednesday, Andriy Yarmolenko, came on for Fornals for the final fifteen minutes.

Steve Bruce also shuffled his attacking options. Matt Ritchie and former Hammer Andy Carroll came on in the 80th minute. Carroll’s last professional goal came for West Ham in the FA Cup against Birmingham last January.

It was Moyes’ change that almost stole the headlines, Yarmolenko and Soucek played a clever one-two and with the ball returning to the Ukrainian around twenty-five yards out. The 30-year-old then hammered a striker at the Newcastle goal, however, it was straight at Dubravka who managed to palm it out for a corner.

West Ham was finishing the stronger of the two teams and was forcing Newcastle deep into their own half. But the Hammers didn’t have any last tricks up their sleeves and would have to settle for a draw. That result means that West Ham extends their lead on the bottom three to four points ahead of their match against Burnley.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Declan Rice

Newcastle United’s French midfielder Allan Saint-Maximin (L) fights for the ball with West Ham United’s English midfielder Declan Rice during the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St James’ Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on July 5, 2020. (Photo by LAURENCE GRIFFITHS / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Newcastle United’s French midfielder Allan Saint-Maximin (L) fights for the ball with West Ham United’s English midfielder Declan Rice during the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and West Ham United at St James’ Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on July 5, 2020. (Photo by LAURENCE GRIFFITHS / POOL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or ‘live’ services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / (Photo by LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

The stand-in captain for most of the match against Newcastle put in a near-perfect performance. Rice was clinical on the ball and was brilliant off it. The 21-year-old subdued Newcastle’s Saint-Maximin for most of the game, a task that many have failed to do this season.

Rice almost rounded off his performance with a goal if not only for the bar, fortunately, the ball rebounded to Soucek to volley home.

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