Epic comeback completes West Ham victory on opening day
By Louis Pye
West Ham started off their Premier League campaign with a magnificent 4-2 win away at Newcastle after scoring three goals in thirteen second-half minutes.
The Hammers – who got beaten twice by the home side last season – got off to the worst possible start inside five minutes as hoodoo man Callum Wilson netted the game’s opening goal – his ninth in 11 games against West Ham.
The response by the away side was positive, however, and it took them just thirteen minutes to draw level, as Aaron Cresswell’s cross-come-shot found the back of the net after suspicions offside.
West Ham was looking to win their opening Premier League fixture for the first time in six seasons since defeating Arsenal in 2016.
The match continued in an end-to-end fashion. The frantic half of football climaxed with Newcastle retaking the league through a Jacob Murphy header after some poor defending by the Hammers failed to clear their lines on several occasions.
Whatever David Moyes uttered at half-time, though, must have worked as his side responded brilliantly to that setback, starting with an equalizer by Said Benrahma.
Declan Rice, having had an uncharacteristically sluggish first half, atoned for his display after winning the ball from the exuberant Alan Saint-Maximin before a great passage of football led to Michail Antonio crossing the ball for Benrahma to head home.
This was the start of an accelerating period for the Hammers as they started to mount their authority on the match and show the world why they finished in the European places last season.
Antonio had a header bounce off the woodwork directly before Fornals was – albeit softly – fouled in the penalty area as referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot.
Antonio’s penalty was subsequently saved, but the ever-reliable Tomas Soucek was on hand to scored the rebound as West Ham took the lead for the first time in the match.
David Moyes’ men killed the game off just three minutes later as a ruthless counter-attack ended with Benrahma and Antonio combining for the second time in the match, this time Antonio expertly finishing the Algerian’s perfectly weighted pass.
Next. West Ham start the new campaign with a similar Starting XI. dark
West Ham finds themselves fourth in the Premier League table after cementing a brilliant opening game win – a position they’ll be looking to cement themselves in as the season progresses.